


Will of Our Own

by Sand_wolf579



Series: Will of Our Own [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Betrayal, Canon Rewrite, Child Neglect, Desperation, Developing Friendships, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Good Luke Castellan, Manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 49,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27537583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sand_wolf579/pseuds/Sand_wolf579
Summary: Percy understood why the master bolt needed to be retrieved, but if he was going to do it he was going to do it on his own terms.  Percy was tired of everybody taking advantage of and using him, so when Annabeth volunteered to go with him on his quest just so she could prove herself, Percy said no.
Relationships: Luke Castellan & Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood
Series: Will of Our Own [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2196123
Comments: 18
Kudos: 135





	1. Chapter 1

When Chiron told him that he could take two companions with him on this insane, suicidal, somewhat petty quest, Percy was relieved. He loved Grover, and he appreciated his help more than he could explain, but Percy knew that the satyr wasn't a warrior. He would feel a lot better about going on this quest if there was someone along who actually knew how to handle a weapon, who could win a battle by more than just luck.

When Chiron mentioned a volunteer, Percy immediately knew who he was talking about. Annabeth had been pestering Chiron for a quest for years. Percy hadn't known her for very long, but even he knew that she was desperate to prove herself. Annabeth had been at camp for longer than most students, and she claimed to be one of the strongest and most experienced kids at camp, but Percy wasn't sure. He'd never actually seen her fight before.

Percy knew that she was almost certainly better than he was, but he didn't like the thought of putting his life in the hands of somebody when he didn't know just what they could do. He knew he should probably give her a chance, but he couldn't get out of his way the way that she'd been treating him since he had first arrived at camp.

Annabeth saw him as a tool, something to use to accomplish her goals. The very second that Percy had arrived at camp, just before he'd fallen unconscious, he'd heard Annabeth say that he was 'the one'. Percy hadn't understood what she'd meant at the time, but he did now. He was her ticket out of here, her chance to get a quest and become a hero like she so badly wanted to be.

Percy felt for Annabeth, really he did. She had a rough childhood, ran away from home when she was just a kid, which took a lot more courage than Percy thought he would ever have, and made herself strong. Percy knew that Annabeth deserved to go on a quest, many half-bloods did, but he didn't think he could be the one to give that chance to her.

Percy was being given this quest because his dad needed his help, which was great and all, but it also kinda hurt. Percy wanted to belong, not just be tolerated by people who wanted something from him. If he was going to go on this quest, he didn't want to go with someone who didn't even like him, or who had made it clear that she was just using him.

Annabeth was nice enough to Percy, but he had no doubt in his mind that it was just because she thought he could be useful to her master plan. She was always studying him, waiting for him to show off what he was capable of. When they played capture the flag she had used him as bait, and hadn't even told him that was her plan.

Sure, Annabeth had said that she would step before things went too far, but Percy had been getting pulverized out there. He'd been cut, and punched, and threatened, and the Ares kids hadn't shown any sign of stopping. Just how far would Annabeth have let things go? Percy had been able to heal himself using the water, but he hadn't known he could do something like that, and Annabeth couldn't have known it either. Percy didn't think he wanted to travel on a dangerous quest with a girl who had already shown that she wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice him for the sake of winning a battle.

There was no doubt that Annabeth was great at battle strategies, but Percy wasn't trying to go to war here, he was trying to stop one. If he was going to be traveling with anybody, it had to be somebody that he trusted.

"Uh...can I ask someone else to join me?" Percy asked. Chiron raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's your quest, Percy," Chiron said slowly. "You can ask whoever you want, but there's no guarantee that they'll accept."

"But I can ask," Percy nodded. He didn't know if this was a good idea, but it was at least worth a try.

"Who did you have in mind?" Grover asked. He still sounded a little bit nervous about this quest, but he was trying to be brave.

"Luke," Percy said.

"Luke?!" Annabeth suddenly appeared behind Chiron, her yankees hat that made her invisible in her hands. There was a frantic, almost hurt look in Annabeth's eyes. Percy almost felt bad for not wanting her to join him, but his guilt didn't last long. She stormed up to Percy and poked him in the chest. "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for a quest?"

"Look, if I didn't have to go, I would gladly give it to you," Percy said. He didn't want to do this thing in the first place. He was only just starting to get used to the idea of gods being real, and was nowhere near ready for a quest, especially not one as important as this, but he didn't have any choice.

"So why aren't I good enough to come with you?" Annabeth crossed her arms and glared at Percy, and he was alarmed and slightly afraid to see tears starting to gather in her eyes. He didn't want to make her cry.

"It doesn't have anything to do with your skills," Percy said. If anybody wasn't good enough to go on this quest, it was Percy himself. "It has to do with the fact that you don't like me at all."

"What? Says who?" Annabeth blinked. She looked shocked and a little hurt that Percy would say something like this, which just made him feel angry.

"Says you!" Percy spread his arms out in exasperation. "Do you think I didn't notice the way you glared at me since you learned who my dad was? Look, I get it, Athena doesn't like Poseidon, which means that you, for some reason, don't like him either, but that's not my fault. I never asked to be his son, and I am so sick of having people look at me like I'm doing something wrong just for existing. I don't want to deal with it at camp, and I won't deal with it on my own quest, so no, you're not coming with me."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue more, but Percy didn't give her the chance. He pushed past her and made his way towards the door. Maybe Chiron had more to say to him, but he would have to find Percy later. He didn't want to listen to Annabeth's anymore. Grover looked frantically between Annabeth and Percy before he followed him out of the Big House.

Percy found himself storming and stomping across the fields. Whenever he caught a camper staring at him he would glare right back at them until they looked away. He had only known who his dad was for a few days, and he was already sick of him.

Percy could see himself eventually forgiving his dad for being absent, with time. Poseidon was one of the big three, so he was super busy, and Percy wasn't actually supposed to exist. Despite how frustrating it was, Percy understood that there were perfectly good reasons why his dad hadn't been part of his life. It helped that his mom had only ever spoken fondly of his dad. If Percy's mom could think the world of a guy, then the least that Percy could do was give him a chance.

But all of the stares and murmurings, the accusations of being a thief, Percy had never signed up for all that. Camp Half-Blood was supposed to be this great place where demi-gods could find a place where they belong, and Percy was still hated, ignored, and looked down on, all because of who his dad was. It wasn't fair.

Percy returned to cabin three. It may be empty, lonely, and a little depressing, but it smelled like the sea and felt like home. Percy groaned and sat down on the bed he had claimed as his own. Grover wrung his hands together nervously and sat on the bed across him.

"You know, Annabeth isn't a bad person," Grover said quietly.

"I know," Percy said. He felt a little guilty about not accepting her offer to help, but his anger was stronger. Why should he apologize for not wanting to be used and taken advantage of? "I just can't spend the next ten days being told that I don't deserve this quest, and that she's better than me in every way."

"That's...fair." Grover swallowed thickly. "So why Luke?"

"He's never made me feel like I don't belong here," Percy said. Luke had always been happy to answer Percy's questions, and had never made him feel stupid for not understanding everything right away. Luke made him feel welcome in cabin eleven, even though they both knew that Percy probably wasn't a son of Hermes. When it was revealed that Poseidon was Percy's dad, everybody else at camp started treating him differently, like he was a freak. Luke had been the only one who had willingly spent any time around him.

Yes, Luke had gotten stricter with their sword fighting training, but Percy was actually glad for that. It had been rough, and it had left Percy sore, even after he had healed using the water, but he had gotten stronger. Percy knew that Luke had only gone so hard on him because he knew that if Percy didn't get stronger, he might not be so lucky the next time he inevitably faced down a monster. Luke had just been trying to help him.

"Luke's also been on a quest before," Percy said. He knew that the quest hadn't been a success, but even a failed quest was still experience. Percy also had no idea how they were going to get to Los Angeles, and the thought of having an adult, even a young adult, traveling with him made him feel a lot more confident. If Luke knew how to drive, they could rent a car for themselves and just drive there.

"I guess so," Grover didn't look completely convinced, but Percy didn't mind so much. He wasn't completely sure about this plan either. "Do you think he'll come?"

"I don't know," Percy admitted. From what Luke had told him, he didn't want to do anything to assist the gods. Luke cared about the demigods, but he was through with trying to earn the approval of the gods. Percy reached for the slightly unbalanced sword that he'd been borrowing. He felt weird about keeping a sword just inches away from where he slept, but Luke had told him that he needed to get into the habit of keeping his weapon within arms' reach at all times.

Camp Half-Blood was supposed to be a safe haven for demigods, but a hellhound had already found its way past the borders. Now that Percy knew he was a demigod son of Poseidon, he needed to be ready for an attack at any time, even when he was sleeping.

Percy looked at his sword and gave it an experimental swing. "Let's find out." He assumed that Luke was at the sword-fighter's arena, training. Percy admired Luke for being so good at sword-fighting. As far as he knew, Hermes wasn't a god that was associated with combat or sword-play, which meant that Luke's skills came solely from hard work, not just from demigod powers he got from his father. It helped Percy to feel hopeful about his own combat skills.

Grover followed Percy to the arena where they saw Luke going through sword-fighting sets with some newer and younger campers from various cabins. As soon as the campers saw Percy they froze and looked like they wanted to run away, which just bugged Percy. Some of these kids had only arrived at camp a few days before Percy, and one of them had even arrived after he had, and yet they were still looking at him like he was a freak. Even kids who were still trying to wrap their heads around this whole Greek thing were terrified of Percy, not because they understood what was going on, but because all of the other campers told them that he was trouble.

So much for this place being a safe space for him. This camp was no better than all of the schools he'd been sent to.

When Luke saw Percy a strange look came into his eyes. Percy couldn't tell if it was anger, fear, happiness, sadness, or something else completely. He'd been seeing that look more and more often in Luke's eyes, but he never asked him about it. Percy knew that he never liked it when other people pretended to understand how he was feeling when they didn't know anything at all, and he didn't want to do the same thing to his friend.

"Alright guys, that'll be all for now," Luke said. The campers immediately started to run off like they were worried what would happen to them if they stayed for a second longer. It was as though they were worried that Percy's bad luck and tendency to get shunned everywhere he went was contagious.

Luke sighed and sheathed his sword. He approached Percy. "How're you holding up?"

"I've been better," Percy said. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Hey, I may not officially be your counselor anymore, but I'm always here if you need something." Luke said. "I can't make any promises, but I can at least hear you out."

"Okay, here's the thing," Percy awkwardly kicked at the dirt. How did one go about asking somebody that they barely knew to join them on a life-threatening quest. "Chiron called me to the Big House and, well…"

Luke stared at Percy for a moment, his gaze lingering on his slightly red face and shaking hands. Luke then glanced at Grover, who somehow looked both determined and sick to his stomach. Luke grimaced and closed his eyes, pained. "Let me guess, you've been given a quest."

"I don't really want to go," Percy said honestly. He was terrified, and furious, and he wished that the most powerful beings in the world would stop acting like five-year-old children. "I can barely hold my own in a fight, I'm still trying to figure out my powers, and I have no idea what I'm doing." Percy glanced up towards the stormy sky. He'd always been afraid of storms as a kid, and now he knew why. "But I'm even more afraid of what will happen if I don't do this."

"So what's the favor?" Luke asked. His tone sounded casual, like he wasn't worried or surprised about Percy's quest at all, but that dark unreadable look in his eyes was back and stronger than ever. It was clear that Luke had a lot on his mind. Percy felt a little bad for bothering him, but he really needed help here. He couldn't do this quest on his own.

"Will you come with us?" Percy asked.

Luke froze, his eyes wide. Percy didn't know if he was scared or just surprised, but either way Luke suddenly looked a lot younger. For the first time Percy saw Luke not as an adult, albeit a young one, but just another kid who happened to be older than him.

"You...want me to come with you?" Luke sounded very confused and extremely conflicted. Percy didn't know the details about Luke's failed quest, but it made sense that he might be reluctant to go on another quest. "Percy, I…" Luke scowled and closed his eyes. He looked angry and a little scary. "I don't want to do anything to help the gods, and you know I'm needed here."

"I know," Percy said. He knew that Luke took his job as counselor very seriously. He dedicated himself to being the father figure that the campers didn't have. "I just...I really need help, and there's no one else I know or trust enough to ask."

"What about Annabeth?" Luke suggested. "You know she's dying to go on a quest."

"Uh, I'm afraid that ship has sailed," Grover said. "She already asked, and Percy already said no."

"She doesn't want to go because she wants to help me," Percy said. "Annabeth just wants to use me to get what she wants."

Luke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Lots of people are going to end up wanting to use you, Percy, and not just because of who your dad is."

Percy frowned. "That doesn't mean I have to be happy about it." Luke gave him a small smile.

"No, it doesn't." Luke smirked slightly and leaned closer to Percy. "You know, we're a lot alike."

"We are?" Percy hated the way that his voice cracked, but if Luke noticed he didn't mention it.

"We're trained to be warriors so we can stand up for the gods, but when it comes to standing up for ourselves, we're left on our own," Luke said. His tone was angry, but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Nobody ever straight up says it, but we're expected to give up everything we have if it's the will of the gods, or for the good of the camp. The gods can screw themselves for all I care, and as much as I love this camp and everybody here, sometimes there's nothing wrong with being selfish sometimes and doing things for yourself."

"So, you're not mad that I'm not taking Annabeth?" Percy asked.

"It's not my choice to make," Luke shrugged. "And I'm not going to tell you how you're supposed to feel. We have way too many people doing that already. I may be friends with Annabeth, but that doesn't mean that you have to be. If you don't feel comfortable taking Annabeth, then don't take her. She may not forgive you right away, but she'll get over it eventually...probably."

"That's reassuring," Percy muttered under his breath. "But will you come with us?"

Luke took a deep breath and brought his hands to his face. He looked stressed and tired, and for a long moment he didn't say anything. Finally Luke sighed and his shoulders sagged slightly.

"When are you leaving?" Luke asked.

"I don't know," Percy admitted.

"Probably first thing in the morning," Luke said. "Quests almost always start bright and early, so the campers might get a full night's rest before leaving." Luke pulled his hands away from his face, though one of his hands lingered for a moment on his scar. Luke shook his head slightly and put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Let me sleep on it, and tomorrow morning I'll either join you, or I'll be there to see off."

It wasn't quite the answer that Percy had hoped for, but it was better than he'd been scared of. "Okay," Percy tightened his grip slightly on the sword in his hand. Luke looked at it and raised an eyebrow.

"Were you wanting to get some last minute training in before you go?" Luke asked.

"It would help me feel better," Percy said. He wanted to be as prepared as possible, and he still had a lot of frustrations that he wanted to get out of his system.

"In that case, show me what you've learned," Luke stepped back and lifted his sword. Percy grinned and raised his own sword into an attack-ready position. He would rather have a more balanced weapon for his quest, but the chances of that happening before tomorrow morning were slim to none. It was better that he get used to this sword.

Luke was right. Percy couldn't just wait for somebody to give him what he wanted and needed. The sword may not feel right in his hands, but Percy was determined to figure out how to make it work for him anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I understand that Annabeth is a fan favorite character, and that's great and all, but I've never been a big fan of her. I've always thought that I felt neutral about her, but for the first time in years I'm rereading the Percy Jackson series, and I just straight up don't like Annabeth. At the start of the series, she's just extremely self-centered, self-righteous, and she thinks that she knows everything. It just rubs me the wrong way and left me wondering why Percy allowed Annabeth to come on her quest with him in the first place, and here we are.
> 
> I'm going to try not to make this Annabeth whump, because while I don't like her, and I wanted to explore this what-if, I do feel bad for her and I want to be as fair and accurate in her portrayal as I can be.


	2. Chapter 2

Percy hadn't felt like joining the rest of the camp for dinner, so Grover had grabbed some food for both of them and they ate on the beach. They didn't talk about anything, they just sat with each other and watched the tide bring the waves gently against the shore. Despite the wind and rain around them, the sea was relatively calm.

Percy knew it wasn't because his dad was calm. Chiron's explanation, as well as Percy's own dreams, showed that Poseidon was nearly as furious as Zeus was. Percy had the feeling that the only reason why the sea was calm was because it was his dad's way of defying his brother. The sea was normally influenced so much on the weather. For it to be calm now, it was his dad's way of saying 'you don't control me' to the king of the gods.

Percy didn't know whether he was impressed by his dad's small defiance, or really annoyed.

Shortly after dark, around the time when the rest of the campers had left dinner and gone off to the sing-along at the amphitheater, Percy heard the clopping of hooves on the beach. Grover looked up somewhat nervously. Percy didn't have to look up to know who it was.

"Chiron," Percy said somewhat coldly. He wasn't really upset with Chiron, he was just frustrated with the circumstances, and Chiron was the messenger who just so happened to be there.

"Did you speak with Luke?" Chiron asked.

"Yeah," Percy said. "He said he'd think about it,"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Percy," Chiron cautioned. "Luke has been distant since he returned from his quest."

Percy frowned. "He hasn't been distant with me." Luke acted a little weird sometimes, but he was still really fiercely protective of the younger campers. Maybe Luke was distant compared to how he used to be, but Percy had only ever known him like this, and he didn't mind it so much.

"How's Annabeth doing?" Grover asked.

"Ah, she...well…" Chiron cleared his throat. "Let me worry about her. You two have a quest to prepare for."

"When do we leave?" Percy asked.

"As soon as possible," Chiron said. "The idea was for you to leave this afternoon, but it's too late for that now so you'll be leaving first thing in the morning. I suggest you pack and get a good night's rest before then."

Percy frowned ever so slightly. He really didn't have a whole lot to pack, unless he wanted to bring his minotaur horn on this quest. Percy didn't even have a bag to put his theoretical stuff in. Grover put a hand on Percy's shoulder.

"Let me take care of it." Grover stood up and trotted back towards the main area of camp, leaving Percy and Chiron on their own.

Percy stared in silence at the waves. He tried to ignore that Chiron was there, but he could practically feel his mentor's gaze at the back of his neck. He was used to adults always just looking at him, either because they expected him to set the school on fire at any moment, or because they were waiting for him to suddenly become as impossibly well-behaved and smart as they expected him to be. Percy wasn't sure which was the case with Chiron, and he didn't think he wanted to know.

"Golden drachma for your thoughts, Percy?" Chiron eventually said. Percy turned and looked to see the centaur holding a hand out to him. Percy just looked at the hand for a moment before he accepted it and let himself get pulled to his feet.

"I don't know if you want to hear what I'm thinking." Percy said. His thoughts were so chaotic and jumbled up, he didn't think that anything he said would even make any sense.

"Don't worry about what I may want to hear," Chiron said. He gestured down the beach. "Walk with me."

Percy took his shoes and socks off and carried them so he could feel the sand between his toes. He'd always found comfort on the beach. He'd always thought it was because of how much his mom loved the beach. Living with Gabe, Percy knew that his mom didn't get a lot of comfort and peace in her life, and he loved any place that could give that to her. Now, Percy wondered if it had anything to do with his dad, if he felt drawn to the beach because it was Poseidon's realm.

"I have no idea how I feel about my dad." Percy said. He clenched his hands tightly around his shoes. "Whenever I think about him, and how he was never around, and how he only claimed me now because he needs me, I just get so mad."

"Many demigods have gone through what you have," Chiron said. "It's perfectly normal." Percy was all too familiar with this kind of wording. Percy had spoken to a counselor at every single school he went to, and all of them said the same kind of thing. When Percy explained his struggles, his counselors all said that what he was feeling was normal. They never told him that it was wrong, or that it was right, just that it was normal.

Percy had always been irritated with the counselors when they said this kind of thing. They didn't sound sincere. He didn't feel that irritability with Chiron though. Mr. Brunner had never taken things easy on Percy or tried to reassure him with false promises and encouragement, and Percy had no reason to think that he was going to start now.

Besides, after everything he'd heard from Luke Percy knew that he was far from the only demigod who was angry with the gods.

"But...I don't know, I can't bring myself to hate him either." Percy said. He couldn't forget how soothing the ocean was, how the salty, cool breeze smelled like home. And the way that water listened to and healed Percy, it wasn't because of anything he did. It just happened. The water _wanted_ to serve him. The element that obeyed his father, it listened to him too, and it felt pretty incredible.

"The gods are complicated beings," Chiron said. "It's understandable that you may have complicated feelings about them. It may be confusing to feel so many conflicted emotions at once, but I caution you to avoid pushing some of those feelings back."

Percy frowned. "What do you mean?"

Chiron sighed and seemed to consider his next words carefully. "It may be easier to let your anger consume you and hate the gods, or to embrace the blessings of the gods completely and do their will without question, but those extremes can be very dangerous, as well as harmful."

"You...you _want_ me to continue being mad at the gods?" Percy furrowed his brow. That didn't sound right.

"I want you to be honest with yourself." Chiron said. "And if Luke accompanies you on your quest, perhaps you could help him to do the same." Percy had no idea how he was feeling. How was he supposed to help Luke when he didn't even know how to help himself?

"I'll try," Percy said.

"I have something that I've been meaning to give you," Chiron said. "I had wanted to wait until you were stronger and had more experience, but we can't afford to wait." Chiron reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pen, a very familiar looking pen.

Percy took the cap off and wasn't surprised when the pen turned into a sword. The same sword that he had used to vaporize Mrs. Dodds. Percy hadn't paid much attention to the sword when he'd first wielded it, because he had been too busy trying not to die, but now that he didn't have to fight for his life he could take a moment to properly appreciate the feel of the sword.

Holding it felt so natural. It didn't feel too heavy, light, or awkward like all of the other swords at camp. This sword was balanced.

Chiron gave a brief history about the story behind the sword, that it was a gift from Percy's father and was called Anaklusmos, or Riptide. Percy barely paid attention. He was too busy admiring the sword. He wondered if it felt so right in his hands because of the build of the sword, or if it had something to do with his father. That passing thought was enough to give Percy pause.

"I, uh, appreciate the sword," Percy said. "But would it be okay for me to, you know, bring another sword too?"

Chiron frowned slightly. "Is there something wrong with Riptide?"

"No, it feels perfect," Percy said. "It's just...I don't know how I feel about the gods, and it doesn't feel right to rely so much on a gift from my father when I don't even know if I like him yet." That would make Percy no better than Annabeth or the gods, who were more than happy to use somebody to get what they wanted, but didn't want to put in the effort to deserve that gift.

Percy didn't want to reject the sword, because that would be insulting in and of itself, and it just felt so right in his hands, but he didn't want it to be the only weapon he had. It might be awkward to carry around two swords at once, but not if one of them was a pen. And Percy thought he should get used to carrying around a sheathed sword.

"If you want to take another weapon, I would see no problem with it." Chiron said. "But don't take too much. It can be just as dangerous to be over prepared than underprepared." Percy didn't know how that could be the case, but Chiron knew more about quests and heroes than Percy did. He probably knew what he was talking about.

Chiron paused as they stepped in front of the cabins. Percy stopped and looked up at the centaur. "I know you have a lot on your mind, but try to get some rest. You have a long day tomorrow."

Percy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll definitely try." Percy just hoped that he didn't have any dreams. He was about to go on a quest to stop Zeus and Poseidon from fighting. He didn't think that watching the two of them duking it out in his dream would be a great motivator.

"Thanks for the help, Chiron," Percy said, and he meant it. "You've given me a lot to think about." Percy put the pen cap on the tip of the sword, turning it to a pen again. He put it into his pocket. Percy gave the water one last longing look before he made his way to cabin three. Grover was taking care of the packing. Percy had asked Luke to come and the two of them had worked on some sword-fighting. The only thing Percy had left to do was try his best to get some sleep. He had a long day tomorrow.

* * *

Percy slept restlessly that night. He didn't exactly have any dreams, but he heard all kinds of muffled mutterings and grunts. He couldn't tell if the voices were furious, or terrified. He didn't know if it was just one echoey voice, or dozens of voices he was hearing. Percy couldn't even tell if he recognized the voices or if they were completely unfamiliar to him.

Grover woke Percy up an hour before dawn. Percy felt absolutely exhausted, like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all, but now that he was up and he knew that he had to get going he really couldn't imagine sleeping. Percy sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Here," Grover handed Percy an apple and then tossed a backpack onto the bed next to him. "The camp loaned us some stuff." Percy took a bite of the apple and looked inside the bag. There was nectar and ambrosia, only to be used in case of emergencies, an extra set of clothes, and some money. It looked like a lot of cash at first, but Percy knew how expensive public transportation could be, and suddenly this money felt like absolutely nothing.

"There's no way this will be enough to get us to Los Angeles." Percy said.

"It'll be enough to get us started," Grover said. "We'll have to figure it out as we go."

"Well, that's reassuring," Percy grimaced. He knew that being overly prepared was dangerous, but this was just ridiculous. Percy had seen kids at school be more prepared for a sleepover at a friend's room across the hall. He couldn't just ask for more.

Percy closed and shouldered the backpack. He had never bothered to change out of yesterday's clothes, and since they were just going to be on the road soon he didn't see any reason to put on something new. He just slipped some shoes on, took one last longing long around the lonely cabin, and followed Grover outside.

Percy shivered slightly and wrapped his arms around himself.. The sun hadn't risen yet, and the wind and rain made it really chilly. Grover looked up at the sky nervously, but he seemed unbothered by the cold. The two of them walked towards the Big House.

Most campers were still asleep, but Percy was surprised at how many people were up and about at this hour. He saw Clarisse in the sword fighting arena going through practice drills with some other Ares kids. Four kids from the Apollo cabin were going for a run on the beach, and Percy knew that the others would be awake soon, because all of Apollo's kids were up early enough to watch the sun rise every morning. There were also a few kids from the Hephaestus cabin making their way to the forges, hoping to get some work in before it got too hot in the day.

Chiron was on the front porch of the Big House, sitting in his familiar wheelchair. Percy grinned when he saw Luke standing next to Chiron. Luke was always up early, Percy had wondered once or twice if Luke ever slept through the night at all, but he knew that the older boy wouldn't have come to the Big House for nothing. Luke didn't look dressed for training, but for traveling. He had a sword scabbard around his waist, and a large backpack over his shoulder.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Percy said quickly as he ran up to join them. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but Luke certainly looked like he was ready for a quest.

"I figured you two would need somebody along to keep an eye on you." Luke eyed Percy for a moment before he smirked slightly and took off his backpack. Luke went through his things for a moment before he pulled out a jacket. He handed it to Percy. It was too big for him, but it was dry and warm. Percy drew the jacket tight around him. "Are you ready to go?"

"Not really," Percy admitted. "What about you? You look exhausted. Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Not exactly." Luke flinched and a dark look came into his eyes. "I kept on getting these nightmares...look, it's not important. Don't worry about me. I'll find a place to slip in a few hours of sleep on the road."

Percy smiled at Luke appreciatively. "Thanks, you know, for coming along."

"Hey, somebody's gotta make sure that everything goes according to plan." Luke looked through his backpack again and pulled out an old pair of shoes. "Here. My dad gave these to me when I went on my first quest. I thought you'd find some use for them. _Maia!_ " The shoes spouted wings and started to hover in the air. Percy stared at them in awe.

Chiron cleared his throat pointedly. "Luke, may I remind you that as a son of Poseidon, Zeus would not be fond of Percy under normal circumstances."

"I can't fly," Percy said. "He'll shoot me right down."

"Not if you're in the underworld," Luke smirked. His eyes sparkled mischievously. "Hades' domain is underground, not technically in the air. If you can control the waters and attack from the skies, you should have no problem taking Hades' on."

"I wouldn't be so arrogant," Chiron warned.

"Don't worry, we'll be careful." Percy said. Luke's plan didn't sound half bad, but they needed to be cautious about it. Percy handed the shoes to Grover. "Watch these for me until we get to the underworld?"

Grover took the shoes with quiet respect. "Really?" The satyr looked anxiously from Percy to Luke.

The older boy grinned and shrugged. "Hey, you don't have to be the child of a god to use their powers. Dad may have given me the shoes, but I gave them to Percy, who gave them to you. You have just as much right to use them as anybody else does."

"Well, now that the three of you are here and prepared, it's time for you to leave." Chiron said. "Argus is waiting with the camp bus."

Luke's grin dimmed slightly. He looked pained. "Have you guys seen Annabeth?"

"Not since yesterday," Percy said.

"Me neither," Luke frowned. "She wasn't at dinner or the bonfire."

"She just needs some space," Chiron said.

"I know," Luke said. "I just thought…" He looked off towards the cabins as though he was hoping to see his friend out there. Chiron put a hand on Luke's shoulder, but he scowled and shrugged it off harshly. Luke shouldered his backpack and put his hands gently but firmly on Grover and Luke's shoulders. "Come on, let's get going. We've got a master bolt to find, and a gods' mess to clean up."


	3. Chapter 3

The Camp Half-Blood bus, driven by Argus, dropped them off at the bus station. Argus had been told by Chiron to make sure that they were seen off safely, but Luke could be incredibly charismatic when he wanted to be. With some quick thinking and smooth words, Luke had convinced Argus that they could take it from here. Luke really tapped into his camp counselor persona as he promised that he would keep an eye on Percy and Grover. Maybe it was because of how long Luke had been at camp, or because he had already gone on a quest, but Argus happily handed Luke the money they would need to buy their bus tickets before he got back onto the camp bus and made his way back to Half-Blood Hill.

As soon as Argus was out of sight Luke smirked and slipped the money into his pocket. "Now that the babysitter's gone, it's time to _really_ get this quest started." Luke put an arm over Percy's shoulder and gestured for Grover to follow him. He led them away from the bus station and walked confidently down the street.

"Uh, we're supposed to be taking the bus," Grover pointed out.

"No, we're just supposed to get to Los Angeles." Luke raised an eyebrow at them. "It doesn't really matter how, and trust me, the bus is probably one of the worst options."

"Why?" Percy asked. He had grown up in New York, he was really familiar and comfortable with public transportation. He'd never understood why people didn't like it. It was easy and convenient once you knew what you were doing. Buses may not be the most comfortable, but it wasn't like they had a lot of options.

"Do you have any idea how far away Los Angeles is?" Luke asked. Percy and Grover both shook their heads. "Almost three thousand miles. Taking a bus, it'll take almost three days, and that's assuming that nothing goes wrong. Best case scenario, we have three days to get there, a day to find the master bolt, and three days to get back. That's seven days, which is cutting it a little close when we only have ten days to get the bolt back."

"Monsters always complicate things," Grover looked around somewhat anxiously, like he was expecting a monster to jump out and attack them right then and there. "Best case scenarios never happen for half bloods."

"Especially not half blood children of the big three." Luke said easily. Grover flinched almost violently and bleated nervously. "And even if we don't think about the time, taking public transportation would mean being around people, which means that not only will we be putting civilians in monster danger, but we'll also attract unwanted attention, and that's the last thing we want.

Percy swallowed thickly. He never would have considered these things. "Okay, so no bus. What are we supposed to do?"

"I've got a few ideas," Luke said. "First thing's first though, we have to make sure we have enough snacks. Because I don't know about you, but I'm not about to go on a road trip without some junk food to keep me happy and awake."

"That's what my cans are for," Grover patted his backpack. "But, yeah, some real food would be nice too."

Luke brought them to the nearest convenience store and let them loose. He told them to not worry about cost or nutrition, that he would take care of that stuff. All Percy and Grover needed to think about was what food they enjoyed. Percy wasn't used to this kind of freedom when it came to junk food. He may have regularly gotten candy from his Mom, but that hadn't included the cheap pastries and snacks that everybody at all of Percy's schools were so fond of. He rarely got the chance to have those things, and after the last few weeks he'd had Percy thought he deserved them.

Percy started looking at containers of cookies and cakes. He knew that it was all artificial junk, but after the ridiculously healthy food at Camp Half-Blood he was ready to eat something that was completely bad for him, just because he could. Besides, Percy had been raised by a mom who was obsessed with blue food, which was almost always artificially dyed. He didn't mind stuff that was 'fake' as long as it tasted good.

Percy was just really disappointed when he could barely find anything that was blue. He had never craved blue food so much. He missed his mom so badly that it hurt, and he just wanted this one small thing to normalize everything.

Luke came up behind Percy. "Nothing catching your interest?"

"It all looks fine," Percy said. He winced slightly when he heard the way that his voice cracked. He was furious that his eyes started to feel wet. He thought he'd gotten over crying about this whole thing. Grover looked at Percy in concern, but he didn't say anything.

"So what's the hold-up?" Luke asked. Percy was sure that he had noticed the tears, but he wasn't drawing attention to it. Luke didn't even give him a pitying look, and Percy appreciated it.

"I'm just thinking about my mom," Percy said. He gave a weak, watery laugh. "You know, she was obsessed with food that was blue. It was her way of saying _you can't tell me what to do._ "

Luke looked like he couldn't decide whether to be annoyed or amused. "I have a life goal of finding a halfblood who has a mortal parent who is normal."

"What about Annabeth's dad?" Grover suggested.

"I guess Annabeth didn't tell you about the time she visited her uncle's house as a kid" Luke chuckled. "She said her uncle treated his own home like it was a museum to the _old gods_ or something, and he inherited the house and everything in there. I don't know what's the deal with the Chase family, but I seriously doubt they're normal."

Luke started to grab all kinds of snacks and treats. If it was non-perishable, he seemed interested in taking it. Percy noticed that though Luke grabbed a variety he seemed to focus a lot more on jerky, nuts, and trail mix

"The sugar's for calories, and this stuff is for protein and getting rid of the feeling of hunger," Luke said. "Both are important for keeping our energy up."

"How do you know all this?" Percy barely knew enough about food nutrition to know to avoid the pizza at school unless he wanted to feel sick.

"After living on the streets for five years, you pick up a few things." Luke said. His voice was casual, but there was a dark look in his eyes. "Eating like this all the time doesn't really work, but for just ten days we should be just fine. Especially since we will be stopping for meals, this will just be for when we can't afford to stop." Luke seemed to be thinking of everything. Percy was extremely glad that he had agreed to join them.

Grover grabbed a couple of different cheesy cracker snacks. They definitely weren't enchiladas, but it was the best he could get right now. Percy smiled slightly and grabbed a few bags of chips, things he could just nibble on while they were travelling. The three of them grabbed a few more things before making their way to the counter. The exhausted looking girl at the counter raised an eyebrow at all their goods.

"I think maybe you forgot a few things," She looked straight at Luke.

"Nah, we're set," Luke said as he grabbed a few packs of gum and added them to the pile. "Babysitting gig. Thought we would have a bit of a party while the parents are away." Percy kept himself from staring at Luke in awe. His lie came so easily that Percy almost believed it himself. Luke was incredibly believable. Percy wondered if it had to do with his dad being the god of messengers and thieves, or if it was just who Luke was.

The girl chuckled as she rang them up. "I wish my babysitters did this kind of thing when I was growing up. They all just turned on a movie to keep me quiet."

"That's not my style," Luke ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the counter. "I've always thought that if you're going to be hanging with kids, you need to convince them you're their friend." Luke put a hand on Grover's head and made a motion that most people would probably assume was him playfully ruffling Grover's hat, but Percy noticed the way that Luke subtly adjusted the hat to make sure that his horns, which had started to peek through, were covered.

"I hope you guys have fun," The girl put all of the snacks into some plastic bags.

"Oh, we will," Luke pulled the money that they were supposed to use for the bus out of his pocket and paid for their stuff. As Percy and Grover took the bags Luke slid an additional twenty dollars to the girl. "A tip, just for you." The girl smirked and slipped the bill into her pocket. "Treat yourself to something. Being stuck at a job like this, you definitely deserve it."

Percy didn't think that Luke had necessarily done anything wrong, but he couldn't help but wonder just why he had done that. Between the three of them, they didn't exactly have a whole lot of money to be handing it over to people. As they were walking out the door Percy jumped slightly when he felt Luke's hand slip into his jacket, depositing some things inside. Percy understood what the tip was about. Luke was stealing some things. The money was to make it up to the cashier. Of course, Percy didn't understand why they couldn't just use the twenty dollars to buy these things too.

Back on the streets Luke walked slightly ahead of Percy and Grover. He eyed all the cars they passed, and stopped for a second in front of any parking lot they passed. Percy had a bad feeling that he knew what was on Luke's mind.

"You can't seriously be thinking about stealing a car." Percy hissed. Luke raised an eyebrow at him and smirked slightly.

"Do you want to get to L.A. or not?" Luke asked, and what was Percy supposed to say to that. Yeah, stealing was bad, but getting the master bolt and stopping the gods from going to war had to make up for it...right?

"Just, you know, make sure we don't get caught." Percy said. He caught up to Luke. As much as he didn't really want to steal something, he was a little curious to see how this was going to work.

Luke laughed. "From a certain point of view, I've never been caught," Percy didn't know how much he believed that, but Luke's confidence was reassuring anyways. "There are plenty of tricks to this."

"Aw, man, it's been so long since I've seen you work your magic," Grover grinned and nudged Percy. "Wait until you see it. Luke's got thieving powers, though he hated using them when we were younger."

"I grew out of it," Luke said. "When I was little I wanted nothing to do with it because the powers came from my dad and I didn't want to owe him anything, but now I'm owning it. He may be the god of thieves, but _I'm_ the master of my powers." Luke's gaze fell on a minivan in front of an office building and his eyes lit up. "I think we found our ride."

Luke went over to the car and hovered his hand over the luck without really touching the car. A moment later the car unlocked itself and Luke let himself in. Percy and Grover started to situate themselves in the back seats. Grover seemed ecstatic that he could have the entire back seat to himself while Percy could have the middle row. Percy was used to not having a lot of space when traveling, but he appreciated the extra room too. This way Grover could stretch his goat legs, and maybe since both of them had more room to lounge they wouldn't get nearly as restless as they traveled to the other side of the country.

Percy had seen people hotwire cars before, but Luke seemed to do it in record time. In just a few moments he had the car up and going. Luke tossed his bag onto the seat next to him and glanced over the seat to look back at them. "You guys ready to go?"

"Definitely," Grover said.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Percy swallowed thickly. Let's go." Luke grinned and pulled onto the street. They were on their way, and this whole quest suddenly felt so much more real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully most chapters aren't going to be this short. This was just to set things up and establish things. As you can probably already tell, this story is going to stray quite a bit from the plot of the book. I just don't think it would make a lot of sense for them to take a bus, especially when Luke would not only be able to drive, but be able to get them a vehicle too.


	4. Chapter 4

Percy hadn't slept very well the night before leaving on the quest. He had thought he'd felt just fine, but as soon as Luke started driving Percy realized just how tired he was. He tried to stay awake for as long as he could, but Percy could barely keep his eyes open for ten minutes before he began to doze off. He had thought that he would just rest his eyes for a few short minutes, but every time he opened his eyes he felt even more exhausted than before so he just changed his position and went back to sleep

This happened three or four times before Percy woke up and actually felt aware and somewhat refreshed. He groaned slightly and stretched out as much as he could. He'd felt so comfortable dozing off, but he felt stiff and sore now. How could people handle sleeping on the subway when it was even more cramped than this car was?

"You finally up?" Luke looked back at Percy in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah," Percy rubbed his neck, which still hurt. He glanced out the window and frowned when he saw how bright it was. It had been really early when they had left, but the sun was up and shining brightly now. Percy had slept much longer than he thought he would. "Where are we?"

"We're about halfway to Cleveland, where we'll stop for a late lunch." Luke said. "We should be there in about four hours, so if you're hungry I suggest you eat something. That's what the snacks are for. And while you're at it can you pass me one of those chocolate chip cookies?"

Percy opened one of the packages that had two large cookies in it. He handed one to Luke and kept the other for himself. He thought he would like the treat, but after just a few bites his stomach felt like it was rebelling against him and the cookie just tasted wrong in his mouth. He couldn't help but feel like these were nowhere near as good as his mom's home-made blue chocolate chip cookies. Percy hadn't expected them to taste the same, but with his mom gone, and the fear that he would never see her again and never get to have one of her hot cookies, it almost made Percy never want to eat a chocolate chip cookie again. It just hurt too much.

Luke glanced over his shoulder towards him as he finished off his own cookie. "It not agreeing with you?"

Percy shook his head. "It feels wrong." Percy put the cookie down on the bag and pulled his legs up close to his chest. Luke was still watching Percy, which was a little nerve-racking, since he was supposed to be keeping his eyes on the road. Percy swallowed thickly, trying to push back the tears before they came back all over again. "It's just...they're not my mom's."

"Ah," Luke nodded and gave Percy a small, pained smile before he turned back around again. "I get it. Nothing beats a fresh cookie, right out of the oven." Percy could see the way that Luke's hands tightened around the steering wheel. "Especially on a really rough day, when they seem to be done right when you need it most."

Percy nodded, remembering how whenever he and Smelly Gabe got into their fights, his mom always had a plate of hot cookies and some fresh bean dip on hand to diffuse the situation. It was like she knew what they would need before they even needed it at all.

Percy was used to hearing people at school talk about their family relationships. Sometimes they were bragging, sometimes they were homesick and just needed to talk about home. It took Percy a long moment to realize why it was so weird to hear it from Luke. For one thing, Luke was nineteen, an adult, and it was odd for Percy to hear a grown-up sounding like a somewhat resentful but still kinda homesick kid.

The other reason why it was weird was that Percy hadn't heard any of the other demigods talk about their mortal homes. It seemed to be a taboo subject, and Percy didn't understand why. He knew that there were demigods who didn't have good home lives, but he couldn't be the only one who actually had a good relationship with his mortal parent.

"Did your mom make cookies too?" Percy asked.

"All the time," Luke made a sound a little like a scoff, but it didn't quite get there. Percy didn't know what it meant, but he didn't really like it. Luke was quiet for a moment before he sighed. "It was one of the only things she could think to do to help me."

Percy wasn't sure what to say about that, but he couldn't just stay quiet. It just wouldn't feel right. "Well, at least she tried."

"I just wish she hadn't tried so hard." Luke said quietly.

"What's your mom like?" Percy asked. Right after the words left his mouth he realized just how insensitive it probably was to ask. "Sorry. You don't have to tell me, you know, if you don't want to."

"No, I don't mind," Luke said, though the stiffness in his voice suggested otherwise. "I'm not ashamed." Luke tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "My mom has the gift of prophecy, but, well, you saw the oracle in the attic, you saw how freaky that kinda thing could be."

Percy couldn't help but shudder. He was sure that he would be having nightmares about that experience. "Your mom was like that?"

"It was a little different," Luke said. "On her good days things might have been completely normal. She coddled me, spoiled me, and swore she would protect me from everything. It was...nice, but weird. Even as a kid, I got the feeling that she was trying to shelter me, that she was terrified of _something_ , and taking care of me was the only way she knew how to handle it."

Percy frowned. "What about her bad days?"

Luke let out a slow, shaky breath. "That was when she had a vision. I know that she saw something about me, but she wouldn't, or couldn't, tell me what it was. I just knew that it scared her badly, and when she was scared she got frantic and, well, scary."

Luke leaned back against the headrest. "One time when I was nine we had run out of food, so I went to the store to steal some things." Percy wasn't about to judge child Luke for stealing. Considering his mom's condition, Luke probably hadn't had any other choice. "I couldn't have been gone for more than half an hour, but she must have seen something while I was gone, and when I got back she was completely freaking out."

Percy could only imagine, being so worried for someone's safety, only to realize that you didn't know where they were. He might panic himself, and he didn't have as fragile a state of mind as Luke's mom seemed to have. Percy remembered how confused and scared he'd been of the Oracle. If Luke's mom was anything like that when she was freaking out, it would have scared any kid to see their parent like that, but especially if Luke's mom had also been angry and worried about not knowing where he had gone. Percy knew from experience that moms could get a little scary when they were really worried about the well-being of their kid.

No wonder Luke had been scared of his mom. Percy was just a little bit freaking out at the thought of her, and he'd only just learned about her.

"I ran away after that," Luke said. "I had run off before, after a bad day, or when my mom had one of her fits in the middle of the night, waking me up. I usually just needed a few hours to myself, maybe a night at the park, but after that,I just couldn't take it anymore."

"But...you still love your mom, right?" Percy asked. He couldn't imagine why Luke would be feeling nostalgic for his mom's cookies if he resented and feared her.

"I tried to tell myself I didn't when I was a kid, but by the time I was twelve I realized that I just can't hate her." Luke said. "She was intense sometimes, but she's still my mom, and she's done more for me than my dad ever would." Percy didn't think he could be as forgiving as Luke was. Percy was a fighter by nature. When someone hurt him, he never forgot it, and he wasn't quick to give them another chance.

Grover bleated in his sleep in the backseat as he rolled over and shifted his position. Percy glanced back towards his friend. Grover looked so peaceful in his sleep, which Percy didn't understand. He felt so antsy and anxious that he couldn't sit still. He didn't know how he was going to handle four more hours of this.

"Are we not stopping at all until we get to Cleveland?"

"We're not stopping for lunch until then," Luke said. "We'll need to get some gas and stop for a bathroom break soon, but we can't stop for long."

Percy found himself bouncing his leg rapidly. He couldn't seem to make himself stop. Luke hummed slightly and raised an eyebrow at Percy through the rearview mirror.

"I'll tell you what, after we get gas we'll get a few minutes of sparring in, get that energy out before getting back on the road." Luke said. Percy brightened and felt more relaxed at the suggestion. The thought of sword fighting was still a little odd, and even though Percy had already fought a monster it still didn't feel like a vital skill that was necessary to his very survival. However, it really was a great way to get a handle on his ADHD.

It was another half an hour before they stopped, but Percy barely noticed the time. Luke started telling him some of the Greek myths. Percy had learned a few things from Annabeth, but he preferred the way that Luke talked to him about it. Even though they both knew that the stories were true, Luke talked about them like they were just distant myths. He also focused on the heroes. Percy got an abbreviated version of the Trojan War, some highlights of Heracles' trials, and a quick story or two about the original Perseus.

The few times that Luke had no choice but to talk about the gods for his stories, he used the silliest, most exaggerated voices that he could manage, and Percy couldn't help but laugh loudly at it. Maybe it was disrespectful to mock the gods like this, but if somebody was going to make such ridiculous decisions all the time, they needed to be ready for a little mockery.

Grover woke up just as Luke started talking about the golden apple incident that sparked the start of the Trojan War, and even the satyr couldn't help but laugh at Luke's impersonation of Prosephone, Hera, and Athena as they fought over who was the most beautiful. Grover may have more respect for the gods than Luke and Percy did, but even he seemed willing to recognize how hilarious the pettiness of the gods was.

Luke finally pulled over at an abandoned looking gas station that was surprisingly open. Percy quickly went to the bathroom before returning to the car to get the practice sword he'd brought along with Riptide. He was counting on the mist to keep the few people who were around from truly seeing the sword. Luke had promised him sparring, and Percy wasn't going to let him back out.

Percy uncapped Riptide and went through a couple of the sets that Luke had taught him. It felt a lot easier with this sword than it did with his practice sword. Percy would love to rely completely on just this perfectly balanced sword, but he'd already decided to give the camp's loaned sword a chance. Percy reluctantly unsheathed the practice sword. For a moment he just stood there, holding Riptide in his left hand and the other sword, a slightly curved kopis blade, in his right. He wondered if Luke would be able to teach him how to use both of these swords at once. He had two weapons, he might as well make them both useful.

"You almost look like a warrior," Luke commented as he joined them. "All you need now is the confidence."

"Real skill would probably come in handy too." Percy said unhappily. Luke laughed.

"We'll get you there." Luke said. "But you would be surprised at how many monsters you can scare away just by intimidation alone. If nine year old me can scare away little monsters with nothing more than a dagger, you can do it with two swords." Luke took his sword out of his scabbard and Percy paused when he saw it. Half the blade looked like normal steel while the other half looked like celestial bronze.

"Do you like it?" Luke held the sword in both his hands and gave it a swing. "I've been working on it for the better part of two years now. This is Backbiter, the only sword effective against both mortals and monsters."

"I thought Chiron said we weren't supposed to hurt mortals." Percy said uneasily. Luke gave him an odd look that made Percy feel like a dumb kid.

"Not all threats to demigods are monsters." Luke said. "Trust me, sometimes mortals can be even more dangerous than monsters are." Percy wasn't so sure about this, but then he thought about Smelly Gabe who was always threatening him and making him feel unwelcome in his own home. Then he thought about young Luke, who ran away from home because he was afraid of his own mother. If Luke felt safer about being capable of defending himself against mortals, then Percy thought it might be okay. Just as long as Luke didn't go around attacking people.

"Do all swords need names?" Percy asked as he looked at the practice sword in his hand.

"Not necessarily," Luke shrugged. "It can help you to see it as an extension of yourself, not just a tool."

Percy thought for a moment about all the stories that Luke had told him, and how one small golden apple had caused so much trouble for the gods and mortals. "Chaos Bringer." He didn't want to cause trouble, but it seemed to be what everybody expected from him, and Percy was going to make them all regret underestimating him.

Luke paled ever so slightly, but he also laughed and looked amused. "Chaos Bringer. Seems appropriate. I like it." Luke lifted his sword. "Alright, first thing's first, you've gotta work on building up the muscles of your left arm. So, let's go through some of those sets, except do it with your left arm. Use your right weapon almost like a shield, to defend any weak spots or openings."

Percy started with the easiest sets, and almost immediately he started to struggle. He had never thought about how much easier it was to use his right arm. He had to consciously put effort into something that had started to feel like second nature. It was hard, especially when Percy had to split his concentration between both Riptide and Chaos Bringer. He was careful to not get sloppy with Riptide. He kept the sword raised, and when Luke started walking around him to double check his form Percy made sure to keep Riptide aimed towards Luke. He had it raised to defend, and ready to attack if it was necessary.

"Not a bad start." Luke said. He stepped in front of Percy, his sword raised. "Let's see if you can figure out how to fight with both your weapons at once." Luke lunged forward. Percy automatically moved to block him with Chaos Bringer before he realized that it would probably be smarter to defend with his non-dominant hand so he could then retaliate with his right hand. Percy tried to switch in the middle of his move, which just threw him off even more. Percy ended up getting nicked by Backbiter, and it stung more than he thought it would.

"What was that?" Luke frowned.

"I was stupid and tried to switch what I was doing in the middle of it." Percy said. Luke had drilled into him over and over again how important it was while fighting to commit to a plan, whether it was the best idea or not. In the middle of a battle, it could be dangerous to try to change strategies, since it took time and distracted you from the fight. "I should have just blocked with Chaos Bringer and attacked with Riptide."

Luke nodded. "Add that move to your daily sets. Soon it will become just as second nature as your other sets."

Percy adjusted his grip on his swords and got ready to practice just that. Suddenly Grover tensed and looked around with wild eyes. He was sniffing loudly, so either he was about to start crying, he was having an allergic reaction, or he could smell something.

"Guys, something's coming." Grover said nervously. Luke reacted immediately.

"Grover, get Percy to the car," Luke said. "I'll hold them off." Percy immediately started to protest, but Luke cut him off before he could even get started. "Look, I can handle myself in a fight, but not if I have to babysit you guys too. Just go, I'll be right behind you."

Percy didn't want to, but Grover looked even more reluctant than Percy did. The satyr looked like he was going to be sick. "Luke, I can't-" Suddenly they heard screeching and wing flapping. Percy looked up to see Mrs. Dodds flying towards them with two other demon math teachers just behind her.

"You little thief." Mrs. Dodds hissed. Percy had already destroyed her, he knew he shouldn't be so scared of a math teacher, but he was terrified of her. "Give it back!"

"Grover!" Luke snapped. "Just get out of here and let me deal with the Furies." When Grover didn't move right away Luke's expression darkened. "Now!"

Grover whined and shut his eyes tight as he grabbed Percy's hand and pulled him towards the car. The Furies flew after them, but Luke jumped in the way, swinging his sword. He sliced at the Fury to the left of Mrs. Dodds and turned her to dust. Mrs. Dodds kept her attention only on Percy, but the other Fury turned her attention to Luke. She moved to attack him, but Luke ducked past her and ran straight towards Mrs. Dodds. Luke stabbed her clean through the chest before she even knew what was happening. For the second time in his life Percy watched his match teacher explode into dust. Now just one Fury remained.

Percy had been watching Luke anxiously, but when he saw how easily Luke had taken down the other monsters he felt comfortable enough to turn around and actually get into the car. He was confident that Luke would be fine on his own, so Percy turned his attention to a problem he could actually fix.

Grover crawled into the backseat. He took his hat off and started nibbling on it anxiously. Percy frowned and sat next to Grover. He put a hand on Grover's leg. "Hey, man, you okay?"

Grover shook his head. "I can't...I can't do this again. This can't be happening again."

Percy didn't know what Grover was talking about, but he doubted his friend was in any state to explain more. It didn't matter why Grover was upset though, all that mattered was that Percy did what he could to calm him down.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Percy said. "Luke'll be here any second now, and then we'll be on the road again." Grover didn't look completely convinced. Percy nudged him. "Come on, do you really think a math teacher will take Luke down?"

Grover let out a weak, watery laugh. He shook his head. "See? We'll be just fine." Percy barely got the words out before the front door of the car opened and Luke got in. He was sweating and he had a somewhat manic look in his eyes, but other than a cut on his arm he looked just fine.

"Luke!" Grover bleated. He scrambled past Percy to the front seat. Grover practically dove between the two front seats as he desperately reached for Luke and clung tightly to him. "You fought off the Furies!"

"I told you I would." Luke said confidently, though somewhat awkwardly. "Come on, don't you trust me?" For some reason this made Grover even more distressed. He whined and buried his face in Luke's chest. Luke looked at Percy almost desperately. Percy shrugged and pat Grover's back to try to comfort him.

It took Grover a long moment to calm down. "Please, no more holding monsters off." Grover looked over his shoulder towards Percy. "That goes for you too."

Luke was confused for a moment before an understanding look came into his eyes. He sighed and nodded. "You're right, we're a team. From now on we fight monsters together or not at all. No more needlessly heroic sacrifices."

"Promise?" Grover asked weakly yet sternly.

"Promise," Percy said quickly, and not just because he wanted Grover to feel better. Percy also thought that they were supposed to work together. That was the whole point of going on a quest together.

"Promise," Luke said. "Don't worry, nobody's going to turn into a tree here." Percy gave Luke an odd look, but the older boy just gave him a stern look that said _not now._ Percy decided to let it drop, at least for now. He would definitely ask Luke again later, probably when Grover was asleep and he didn't have to worry about upsetting him again.

Luke gave Grover another minute to calm down before he pulled away from him. "Hey, you're okay, and I'm okay, but we've gotta get going again. This car isn't going to drive itself."

Grover nodded and sheepishly retreated back to his seat. Percy decided to stay in the backseat with him, at least for an hour or two, just to make sure that Grover really was okay. Luke watched them for a moment before he turned the car on again and started driving.

Grover fiddled with his hat before he put it back on. "I'm sorry for freaking out back there. I should be better than this."

"Yeah? Says who?" Percy asked. He had dealt with people setting impossible expectations for him, and he was sick and tired of it. He wasn't about to tolerate his best friend setting those impossible expectations for himself. "And don't worry about it. Getting attacked by monsters is a perfectly understandable thing to freak out about."

"You did fine, Grover," Luke added from the front. "Considering the circumstances, you did great, and I'll do my best to not force you into that situation again."

Grover nodded and leaned slightly against Percy. He was still upset, and Percy wanted to get his mind off of whatever was bothering him. "So, Luke, you got any more stories about Greek heroes?"

Luke grinned. "You ever heard of Orpheus and Eurydice?"

"The name sounds familiar," Percy said.

"Orpheus was one of the people who went to the underworld and came back alive." Grover said. "It's a really tragic story."

Sometimes Percy really hated Greek mythology. Heroes were supposed to have happy endings, especially heroes who did something so impossible as to get out of the underworld, but apparently not. Percy wondered why people like Annabeth were so desperate to go on a quest and become a hero when it never ended well. Yeah, heroes went down in history, but when that only happened because their lives were a living Hell, was it really worth it?

Still, Percy was planning on going to the underworld himself. He figured he might as well get as much information as he could about how other people had accomplished that. "How's their story go?"

"The thing I like about Orpheus is nobody really knows who his parents are," Luke began. "Some say he's a child of Apollo, other's say he's the son of a king. His mother might have been a muse, a princess, a random mortal, but regardless of who his parents were, all the stories agree that Orpheus was a great poet and singer. He's one of the few heroes who made a name for himself beyond just being the child of a god."

"And not many Greek heroes thought that the pen was mightier than the sword." Grover said. "Sometimes I wish that Camp Half-Blood talked more about you being a hero without being a fighter."

"Yeah," Luke said. "I can't tell you how many kids at the Hermes cabin feel like they don't belong at camp at all, because they're not as interested in fighting as the Ares and Athena kids are."

Percy could relate. He had felt like an outcast at camp. He'd thought it was just because he'd been new, and that after he got used to all of these changes they would start to feel more like second nature to him, but now he wasn't so sure. He wasn't as competitive about the rock climbing wall or capture the flag as a lot of the other campers were, and he didn't know if he wanted to be.

"How did Orpheus get out of the underworld just by being a singer?" Percy asked.

Luke chuckled. "There's nothing 'just' about his music. If Orpheus wasn't a singer, he never would have gotten to the underworld in the first place, or been able to leave it. First, you should know why he went down there in the first place. It all started with a woman named Eurydice." And Luke started the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels weird to have Luke talk to openly about his mom, but it also feels extremely natural. Maybe Luke's just trying to get Percy to empathize with him to get him on his side or something.
> 
> The way I look at Luke is kinda odd. Considering his childhood, and him living on the streets for five years, and then becoming the head of the Hermes cabin, Luke has always struck me as a really responsible kid. He may resent the gods, but I see Luke as caring about the other children of the gods more than anything else, which makes his loyalty to Kronos make no sense. He has to know that Kronos' world wouldn't be any kinder to the demigods than the gods' world is.
> 
> It's really weird that I have started to see canon Luke as being almost OOC.


	5. Chapter 5

They arrived at Cleveland at about 3:30 PM. Just like he had said, the first thing that Luke did was take them to get some food. It took some debating between the three of them, but they eventually decided to go to a small pizzeria and order two large pizzas, one plain cheese and one meat lovers. Percy hadn't understood why they were getting so much food when there was only three of them, but Luke insisted. He said that as long as none of them minded cold pizza, it would make great leftovers.

After they had their late lunch Luke took them to a park. Because of the rain, the park was practically empty, which was probably for the best. Luke was able to teach Grover how to properly use the winged shoes. It was funny to watch Grover tumble through the air. After some practice and coaching from Luke, Grover slowly started to get better. Until he looked at least a little competent.

Once Luke was confident that Grover could be left on his own without crashing into the trees, he turned his attention to Percy. The two of them sparred for about an hour, though they continuously stopped so that Luke could correct Percy's stance and form.

Percy could have sparred all evening, but after driving all day Luke needed some sleep. While Percy worked on his forms Luke went back to the car to get some rest. When Percy and Grover were tired of practicing and training, they decided to stretch their legs a little bit and walk around town.

It was nice to just walk and chat, to pretend that they were just normal kids. Percy didn't have a specific destination in mind. They just saw some of the sights, ducked into whatever stores they came across to get out of the rain, and just took it easy. After a few hours the novelty started to wear off and both of them were ready to get back to Luke. On their way back to the car they passed a bakery where Percy saw them selling fresh, hot cookies.

Percy didn't normally splurge on money, but he'd been having a craving all day and he thought that Luke might have had the same craving. He went in and got four hot chocolate cookies while Grover got himself a fudgy brownie. With their treats in hand they hurried back to the car. Luke was still asleep, but he looked like he was having a nightmare, and the cookies were cooling down.

"Hey, Luke," Percy shook his shoulder. Luke groaned and grimaced, but didn't wake up. "Come on, man, get up." Percy was practically tugging on Luke's arm at this point. The older teenager suddenly jerked awake with a gasp and sat up so quickly that he almost hit Percy's forehead.

"P-Percy," Luke stared at him in shock. His eyes were slightly dazed and it took him a moment to really become aware and awake. He groaned and rubbed his hands over his eyes. "What's up?"

"You were having a nightmare," Percy said. "And I found something I thought you might like. He pulled one of the warm cookies out of the bag. The chocolate chips were still hot and melty, just the way that Percy liked it. He handed the cookie to Luke, who stared at it for a moment before he smiled and took the cookie. Percy pulled another cookie out for himself and gave it a try. It was definitely better than the packaged stuff from the convenience store. "It's no Mom's cookie, but not bad,"

"Not bad," Luke said. His smile looked sad and a little forced, but Percy didn't think a lot about it. It was bitter-sweet for him too. Luke rubbed his nose and crawled out of the backseat to get to the front. "You guys ready to get back on the road?"

"What, already?" Percy had thought that they would spend the night in Cleveland, but Luke had other ideas.

"The sooner we leave Cleveland, the sooner we get to L.A." Luke said. "That's why I took a nap, so I could drive tonight."

"If we stay in one place too long, we'll just be giving monsters a chance to find or catch up to us." Grover pointed out.

"Exactly," Luke started the car. "It's best for us to keep moving." He started driving. "I hope you're cool with sleeping in the car, because we're going to be on the road all night."

"Unless we're attacked by monsters," Grover said.

"Yep, unless we're attacked by monsters," Luke said, and they both sounded far too casual about this, like they thought that confrontations with monsters were completely inevitable. Percy wasn't so comfortable with it, especially since Luke had only gotten a handful of hours of sleep today, and he hadn't slept that well last night either.

Percy was feeling tired already, but he didn't think he'd be able to get any sleep. He planned on staying awake for as long as he could. Somebody had to keep Luke company, make sure he stayed awake and had back up if they did come across monsters.

Percy pulled his legs up on the seat and leaned against the window. For more than an hour they drove in almost complete silence. Percy thought he would get antsy, but just staring out the window was fairly entertaining. He had lived in New York all his life, barely ever left the city, so it was weird to see how different the landscape of Ohio was.

Eventually the thrill wore off and Percy found himself dozing. He didn't want to sleep, so he sat up straight and looked at Luke, who was rubbing his eyes. His eyes were slightly dazed, and Percy didn't know if it was because he was tired or had a lot on his mind. Either way, he looked like he needed a distraction as much as Percy needed something to keep him awake.

"You said something earlier about none of us getting turned into trees," Percy said. Luke jumped slightly and glanced towards him. He hadn't noticed that Percy was awake. "What was that about? Is that something that happens to demigods often?"

"Not really," Luke said. "Is Grover asleep?"

Percy glanced in the back. "Yep, he's out," He thought for a moment that Luke was just deflecting, but a moment later he sighed.

"Look, it's not unheard of for half-bloods to be turned into plants, or animals, or be cursed in some way or another. The gods don't like giving attention to people, unless they're personally offended, in which case the gods will make your existence a living hell." Luke said. "When you listen to all the stories, they're funny or weird, but it's a lot less fun when it happens to someone you know."

"You know someone who got turned into a tree?" Percy asked quietly.

"Thalia," Luke said, his voice pained. "You were told about the tree on Half-Blood Hill, weren't you?"

"I think so," Percy said. The people at camp frequently mentioned the story in passing, but it was almost taboo and nobody liked to go into specifics or details. It was like a really loud secret. "A girl gave her life to save a couple other half-bloods, and she got turned into a tree, which keeps the camp protected."

"Me and Annabeth were the half-bloods she saved," Luke said. She gave her life for us, but she shouldn't have had to." Luke's hands tightened around the steering wheel. That dark look returned to his eyes. He started telling Percy the whole story, about traveling with Annabeth and Thalia, meeting up with Grover, trying to get to Camp Half-Blood. Percy had been really confused when Luke mentioned that Thalia was the daughter of Zeus, but Luke didn't look like he was in the mood to be interrupted, so Percy kept his questions to himself.

Everybody talks about Thalia like she's a martyr, but she wasn't. She was a victim and a child who didn't deserve all the crap the gods threw her way." Luke said.

"I thought that the whole goal for half-bloods was to be heroes." Percy said.

"Our only goal should be to stay alive and have as happy a life as we can." Luke said. "Just because we're demigods doesn't mean that we should have to live our lives the way that the gods want us to."

What Luke was saying sounded wrong, but it felt right. Percy had lived his whole life up to this point just for himself, but since he'd gotten to camp he'd had to adjust to conforming his life around the will of the gods. It was actually nice to hear that he wasn't the only one who thought that life would be much simpler without the gods.

"Thalia's dad could have done anything to honor Thalia's bravery," Luke said thickly. "He's the king of the gods. Zeus has the power and authority to do anything he wants. He could have healed Thalia, or given her the power to defeat the monsters, or even stopped the monsters from chasing us in the first place, but I'm supposed to be grateful that he turned her into a tree."

Luke seethed and Percy could see his hands shaking. "I don't know if anyone told you about how the underworld works, but there are different levels of it. The Fields of Punishment, Fields of Asphodel, and Elysium, where heroes go. That is where Thalia should be, but because Zeus turned her into a tree, her soul is stuck. She can't even get the reward that she deserves, and I can't just thank the gods for that."

Percy shivered and pulled his legs up to his chest. At camp there were a lot of half-bloods who had an issue with the gods, but there was still an underlying current of respect there. Percy hadn't thought much of it, because the gods were their parents, and Percy definitely respected his mom, so he believed that respecting parents was a good thing. But technically speaking, Smelly Gabe as his step-dad was his parent too, and Percy definitely didn't respect him. Gabe was a bully and had done nothing to earn Percy's respect, and from what he had heard of the gods they weren't much different.

"It doesn't really make me want to get the master bolt back." Percy said quietly. It made him feel a little sick just how much the gods could affect their lives and not think twice about it. It was scary and really frustrating.

Luke turned to look back towards Percy, and he looked really alarmed for a moment, but the look faded so quickly that Percy wondered if he had imagined it. "Normally, I'd be all for saying 'screw you' to the gods, but they seriously will destroy the world, and they're going to drag their demigod kids into their war, and we all deserve better than that."

"So, we let the gods control our lives, just because they're more powerful than us?" Percy frowned. "I don't like giving in to bullies."

Luke chuckled and twisted in his seat to hold a fist out to Percy, who grinned and returned the fist bump. "I knew there was a reason I liked you, kid," Luke said. "Trust me, I'm not about to roll over for the gods. But they _are_ stronger than us, which means that we have to be smart and a little patient about this. Don't worry though, I'll keep you in the loop."

Percy never really liked it when people told him to just lie low and wait patiently. Everybody always said that things would work out eventually, but that wasn't always true. Percy had learned that he couldn't just wait for everything to work out. If he wanted something to happen, he had to do it for himself.

However, Luke's words didn't sound like just another empty promise. Luke was also discontent with the hand that he and all the other demigods had been dealt, and he wanted to fight back. Percy hadn't been given any reason to not trust Luke.

Percy leaned against the seat and rested his eyes for just a minute. He tried to ignore and hide how tired he was, but he couldn't quite hold back the exhausted yawn. "Why don't you get some sleep?" Luke suggested.

"I can't just leave you on your own," Percy said as he rubbed his eyes. Even though he didn't live with his mom for the majority of the year, there had been countless times when he had woken up in the middle of the night and found his mom crying, completely devastated and exhausted. It made Percy feel horrible. His mom worked so hard and sacrificed so much for him, and she had done her best to hide how much she was suffering. Percy had felt useless that he couldn't do anything to help his mom. Now, he had reason to think that his friend was suffering in silence too. Percy couldn't do a lot, but he _could_ make sure that Luke knew that he wasn't alone.

"I'll be fine," Luke assured him, but Percy wasn't about to just take his word for it.

"There's no way you're not exhausted," Percy said. "I know you haven't been sleeping well."

"If I find myself falling asleep, I'll pull over at a rest stop and slip in a nap," Luke said.

"And what if you get another nightmare?" Percy asked. Luke stiffened. He was quiet for a long moment, which unnerved Percy more than it probably should. Luke was incredibly silver-tongued and charming. He got people to trust him very easily. It was weird to see him hesitate about anything.

"There's nothing I can do about them," Luke said. "I can't really control what my dreams are."

"My mom said that nightmares are caused by stress," Percy said. "At least, recurring nightmares are." For the first time in his life, Percy wondered if his mom was plagued by nightmares. There was so many things he didn't know about her, and so much that he could and should have done to help her, and now it was too late.

"Life instantly gets harder the second you become an adult," Luke said, and Percy couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. "It's just taking me time to figure it out."

"Maybe I can help," Percy said. "A problem shared is a problem halved."

"Maybe," Luke said. He didn't sound completely convinced, but he wasn't brushing him off either. "I'll think about it later, but for right now you need to get to sleep." Percy opened his mouth to argue, but Luke cut him off before he could start. "I'm serious, Perce, but I'll tell you what. The second I see the sign of a monster, I'll wake you up so we can put those sword-skills of yours into real practice."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," Percy said as he laid down. He still didn't really want to sleep, but he could barely keep his eyes open. It had been a really long day. Percy had never known that sitting in a car all day could be so exhausting. Percy wasn't exactly looking forward to several more days of being on the road, and then making the return trip, but he didn't dare complain. He would rather sit around and be constantly bored and tired than for his life to be threatened by endless monster attacks.

Percy just hoped that Luke would keep his word and get some rest himself, because he couldn't possibly continue on all night, not on his own. Percy may not know just what Luke was going through, but he swore to himself that he would find a way to help him out anyways. Luke had done so much for him, and Percy was determined to return the favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda super into writing Percy. He's just a sweet kid, but he has a fair amount of righteous fury in him, which makes him so much like Luke.
> 
> Also, I'm thinking way too much about the traveling route that they're taking from New York to L.A. I'm looking into how far they could get in a certain number of hours, what cities would they pass through. I'm definitely making this a road trip story.
> 
> Hopefully the conversations and short stops they make are enough to keep the story interesting. I'm definitely having fun with this, but I want you guys to enjoy yourselves too.


	6. Chapter 6

_Percy was standing in a cavern. He could hear whispers all around him, but he didn't understand what was being said. Percy just knew that he felt terrified. He didn't know where he was, all he knew was that he really didn't want to be here. He needed to get out of here, but he couldn't move at all. His fear kept him frozen._

_For a few long moments Percy was stuck there with nothing but the chill in the air and the whispers in the dark for company. Eventually he realized that one of the voices stood out from the others. It started getting louder and louder until Percy couldn't block it out. It echoed through his head and sent shivers down his spine._

" _You forget your place, boy," The voice said, and it didn't sound happy. Percy was worried that the voice was addressing him, but then he heard another voice and Percy realized that he wasn't the unlucky soul the voice was talking to._

" _I-I apologize, my Lord." A familiar voice said. Percy felt like he should be able to place it, but he really couldn't. "I was just-"_

" _Silence!" The lord's voice echoed through the chamber. Percy would have cringed if he could. He thought he heard the other voice, the boy, whimper, though he wasn't sure. "Your little adventure has made you careless Do you truly believe that you can ignore the gods and hope they'll forget about you? Do you need a reminder of what the gods have done to you?"_

" _N-no." The boy's voice shook. My lord, please, don't-" His plea trailed off into a pained whine. Percy felt a slight change in the air, and he didn't like it. He couldn't shake the feeling that the boy was hurt. A few minutes passed very slowly, but finally Percy heard the boy let out a gasp that sounded a little like a sob._

" _No more," The boy said quietly. "Please, my lord, don't show me more. I'll do better. I won't let you down."_

" _See that you don't," The lord warned. "I won't accept failure."_

" _I won't fail," The boy insisted. His voice trembled slightly, but he sounded confident. "We're close to the bolt, and once we have it-"_

Percy jolted awake when he heard a loud roll of thunder that seemed to shake the car. Percy sat up and looked around rapidly. The terrified feeling he'd felt in the cavern in his dream was still there. He knew it wasn't real, and he wasn't there anymore, but he still felt incredibly unsafe. The thunder and rain outside didn't make him feel any better. How could he feel safe when he knew that the god that was responsible for this massive storm hated him?

Percy looked outside and frowned at how dark it was. The only thing that broke through the night was the lights of the rest stop that the car was parked in front of. Percy glanced towards the front seat of the car and relaxed slightly when he saw Luke curled up on the passenger's seat. He must have kept true to his word and pulled over to get some rest.

Percy was relieved that Luke was getting some sleep, but it clearly wasn't restful. Luke was muttering and shifting in his sleep. He was having a nightmare. Percy knew that Luke needed all the sleep he could get, but he'd never seen somebody so clearly distressed when they were having a nightmare. Percy couldn't just leave him upset and vulnerable like this.

Percy leaned forward in his seat and nudged his friend's shoulder. "Luke...Luke! come on, man, you gotta wake up." Luke stayed sound asleep. Percy had to take a different approach. He grabbed a water bottle, opened it, and poured it over Luke's head. The older boy gasped and sat up. Luke instinctively lashed out and hit Percy's forehead. Percy winced and drew back, holding his hands to his head. That hurt a lot more than he would have expected.

"Wha-Percy?" Luke looked at him in confusion and slight concern. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me," Percy muttered. He rubbed his head. "Are you okay? You seemed upset."

"I'm fine," Luke leaned back and rubbed his eyes. "Just a nightmare."

"You've had way too many nightmares." Percy said. "I don't think these are just dreams anymore." Luke's small flinch made Percy wonder if they had ever been just dreams in the first place. "Seriously, Luke, this can't be healthy. Can you just tell me what's going on?" He may not be able to help, but Percy didn't think that Luke talking to him would hurt anything."

"Luke watched Percy for a long moment before he sighed. "It was just a nightmare about being back home with my mom."

"Was it about her bad days?" Percy asked quietly.

"For part of it," Luke said. "Mostly I dreamed about her during her good days, except they didn't seem so good now." Luke shuddered slightly and wrapped his arms around himself. "When I was a kid I just noticed how much she couldn't take care of me, but what I saw in my dream...she can't even take care of herself. Her mind is _gone_." Luke let out a shuddered breath and clutched tightly at his arms. "And it's all _their_ fault."

Percy had come to recognize this tone of Luke's. "The gods?"

"My mom was just trying to help them." Luke's voice trembled. He sounded both older and younger than Percy was used to hearing from him. "She was trying to do something to serve the gods, and she got caught in the cross-fire of this _stupid_ rivalry between the gods have issues with each other, and she's the one who gets punished for it. _We_ get punished for it, and it's not _fair!_ "

Percy bit his inner lip and did the only thing he could do to help. He climbed into the passenger seat, practically sitting on top of Luke, and leaned against him in a kind of embrace. Luke immediately relaxed slightly and let go of himself so he could put an arm around Percy instead.

The seat was too small for both of them to sit in it comfortably, but neither of them cared. Percy was used to getting hugs from his mom in cramped spaces, and he knew that Luke had given his fair share of comforting cuddles to some of the younger campers when they got really lonely.

"It sucks," Percy said. "The gods suck." His first exposure to the gods was being accused of being a thief. His mom had to sacrifice so much just because of who his dad was. Luke and his mom had been put in an impossible situation. Then there were all of those kids back at camp who were either completely ignored by their godly parents. Or, even worse, the kids whose parents couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge them as their kid.

"The world deserves better than to be ruled by gods who couldn't care less about it." Luke said. His tone was trying to be angry, but he just sounded tired. "But it's hard to stand up to your parents, let alone your parents who are running the _whole stinking universe_." Luke turned his head and stared out the window, a distant look in his eyes. "I'm doing the best I know how right now, but sometimes...sometimes I feel like I'm doing everything wrong."

"Well...you're doing it for good reasons, right?" Percy asked. "My mom tells me that what's most important is meaning well." It had made Percy feel a lot better whenever he was kicked out of another school. Percy's mom could see that he was trying as hard as he could, and that he meant well, so no matter how much trouble he got in at school, his mom was always on his side, and Percy appreciated it more than anything.

Luke scoffed. "You know what they say about the road to hell being paved with good intentions."

"Well, that's a good thing, right?" Percy gave Luke a weak smile. "We're on our way to the underworld, aren't we? We're on the right path."

Luke laughed and tightened his grip on Percy. "Alright, smart guy. I guess that means I'm sticking to what feels right." Percy nodded. It sounded like a good plan.

"I'll help you with it." Percy said. He didn't understand why Luke stiffened slightly.

"I don't think you'd be saying that if you knew just what I was doing." Luke said, and he sounded incredibly sad. Percy nuzzled closer to Luke.

"You're my friend," Percy said. "And I stick by my friends no matter what."

Luke sighed and pulled away from Percy, who was wondering what he had done wrong. "Can you give me your jacket? I gotta get some fresh air."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Percy said. He didn't want to let go of Luke, but if he needed space Percy wasn't about to force affection onto him. Percy backed up and struggled to take his jacket off in the cramped space. He handed it to Luke, who bundled it up, opened the door, and stepped out into the storm.

Percy shivered and looked out the window to watch Luke. The older boy slipped under a pavilion near the rest stop to get some protection from the rain. From the pavilion lights Percy could see Luke take a few things out of his pocket. Luke was too far for Perc to be able to see just what it was, but he saw the flicker of a small flame and he saw some very familiar looking arm movements.

Percy suddenly realized just what Luke had shoplifted from the convenience store in New York, and now he understood why Luke had felt the need to steal it. After all, in New York nineteen year olds weren't old enough to buy packs of cigarettes.

Percy felt anger and concern warring in his head, and he really didn't know which one was stronger. Either way, Percy was upset and needed to make Luke stop. Ignoring the rain, Percy stepped outside and ran to the pavilion.

"Luke!" Percy shouted. Luke looked at him in confusion, and Percy took advantage of that confusion to pull the cigarette away from his grip. Percy threw it into the rain before Luke could fully process that he was there. "What the heck, man?"

"What's the big deal?" Luke asked.

"I thought you said you were getting fresh air?" Percy asked angrily. "This is the opposite of that."

"Kid, I needed to relax." Luke said tensely. "I've had a long day and a rough night. I deserve a break."

"I get that, but not like this," Percy said just as tensely. "This is my quest, and I've not going to sit in a car all day with a smoker."

Luke's expression darkened dangerously. "I get enough of the health lectures from Chiron about this, I don't need it from you too."

"This isn't about your health." Percy said. Yes, he was concerned about it, but Percy ate unhealthy food all the time. He wasn't in any place to tell Luke to make better life decisions. "I just...I don't like the smell of it. It reminds me of my stupid stepdad." Percy hadn't often seen Smelly Gabe smoke, but the smell lingered around the man and the apartment constantly. It made Percy gag every time.

Luke groaned but he pocketed the pack. He kept the lighter that he'd also stolen out, but he just flicked it open and closed. "I don't do this all that often. Just when things get really bad and I need a way to clear my head. I don't want to become addicted or dependent or something like that. But if you really don't want me doing it, I'll cut back around you. I can't promise I won't do it again on this trip, but I'll do it away from you and keep the smell down to a minimum.

Percy didn't like it, but he thought that the compromise was fair. He nodded. But if Luke smoked to cope with stress and Percy was keeping that from him, he needed to help him find a different way to cope with stress. Luke was clearly dealing with a lot, and he needed help.

"Do you want to spar?" Percy asked. He knew that Luke loved to sword fight, and Percy could always do with more practice. He was surprised when Luke sighed, shook his head, and lit the lighter.

"I don't really feel like using Backbiter right now." Luke said.

"You could borrow one of my swords," Percy suggested. That was another advantage to having two weapons. If Percy's ally needed a weapon, he had one to spare. Luke shook his head.

"I don't want to use a weapon used by any of the gods, so I'll pass on using Riptide," Luke said. "And you need to get used to Chaos Bringer." Alright, so sparring was out. Percy didn't think that Luke was in the mood for telling stories about the gods or old heroes.

Percy thought of the things that he did when he needed to relax. After a particularly hard or stressful day at school Percy would frequently break into the gym when he could manage it and just throw around a basketball or run a few laps. Percy had never joined a school sports team, because his grades were never good enough, but messing around and burning his energy and anger out was incredibly therapeutic. Maybe Luke would find it beneficial too.

Percy saw some large trees nearby. They looked perfect for climbing. Percy knew that it was probably really dumb to climb a tree in this kind of storm, but he wasn't known for being the smartest guy. He did what felt right at any given moment, and what felt right tonight was to climb a tree and act like a little kid.

Percy grabbed Luke's hand and pulled him towards the largest tree. "When was the last time you climbed a tree just for the fun of it?"

"I think I was, like, six or something," Luke laughed and let Percy pull him along. "You're nuts, kid."

"Nuts and proud of it," Percy let go of Luke's hand to grab onto the tree bench. It was a little slippery, but he adjusted his grip on the branch and was able to pull himself up. Luke grinned and grabbed a higher up but thicker branch. He climbed up with the ease of somebody who had mastered the rock climbing wall at Camp Half-Blood.

Percy grabbed onto a shorter branch in front of him and swung towards a slightly lower branch. His foot slipped slightly when he tried to land on it, but his grip with his hands was solid and he was able to find his footing.

"Watch your step there, Perce," Luke said. The older boy jumped slightly to grab onto a branch above him. Percy wanted to explore the whole tree, but Luke seemed more interested in seeing how far and high he could get.

Percy climbed and swung around for several minutes until he nearly slipped right off a branch. He then decided to just sit down close to the trunk and catch his breath for a minute. By this point he was completely soaked, and Luke was as well, but he didn't seem to care. Luke was having too much fun climbing on branches that he should probably avoid.

A roll of thunder that Percy could feel in his bones made him feel sick and nervous Zeus was clearly not happy, and Percy wondered if maybe it would be best to not test his patience. "Luke, the storm's getting kinda bad. Do you think we should go back in the car?"

Luke glanced towards Percy and scowled slightly when he saw the nervousness in his eyes. Percy was worried that Luke was disappointed in how sheepish he was about a little rain, but then Luke smirked and moved his attention to the sky.

"Hey big bad master of the skies, why don't you take your all-powerful lightning and shove it up your-" Luke's shout was covered by another loud roll of thunder, but Percy had a good idea of what Luke was saying. Maybe it was crazy to talk that way to such powerful gods, but Percy couldn't help but calm down slightly and grin at Luke's boldness.

"And you call me nuts." Percy said. Luke laughed and started to climb down.

"Come on," Luke said. "If I'm awake we might as well get back on the road."

"How long until we get to Los Angeles?" Percy asked.

"At this pace, probably two more long days of driving." Luke said. "We're about two hours away from Chicago right now. If we drive all day I should be able to get us to Denver by tonight." It seemed like such a long time, but Percy had seen enough maps of America to know that Colorado was really far from New York. It was strange to think that twenty four hours ago he had been back in New York, and he had travelled so far in what really was such a short period of time.

"Let's get this over with," Percy stretched and started to climb down the tree. His stomach rumbled halfway down and he realized how hungry he was. "First though, breakfast."

"We've got cold pizza and chocolate chip cookies from yesterday." Luke said.

"Sounds like my kind of feast," Percy grinned. Day-old food had never sounded so good. "Let's eat and get going." Percy was tired of being in the car, but it wasn't actually as bad as he thought it would be. Between sleeping and listening to Luke's stories, time really flew. They should be in Los Angeles by tomorrow, and then they just had to find the master bolt, which was still an impossible task, but at least Percy knew that he had his friends to help him.

This quest sucked and Percy had never wanted to go on it in the first place, but for something that he really had to do, Percy didn't mind it as much as he thought he would. It was fun, and it was a little easier to deal with this crazy situation when he knew that he wasn't the only one that the gods were screwing over.

Percy didn't know what Luke had in mind about getting out of the control and influence of the gods, but he hoped he learned it soon. Whatever Luke's plan was, Percy wanted to be a part of it. Luke had done a lot more to show that he cared about the half-blood children of the gods than the gods themselves did. Percy was sure that Luke would do what he thought was best for all demigods, and Percy trusted him completely.


	7. Chapter 7

The day's drive to Denver was surprisingly uneventful. Percy saw what looked like a few centaurs, satyrs, and what was possibly a dragon, running around the countryside. It was strange to see mythical creatures roaming around so casually. Percy had freaked out a little bit the first time he'd seen a dragon, but Luke and Grover had been unconcerned. According to Grover, these kinds of creatures usually just minded their own business. As long as they were left alone, they left humans alone, so they just drove right past them.

They almost got into a fight with a chimera or manticore, or some other hybrid creature that Percy couldn't tell apart. It had tried to eat Grover when they had stopped for lunch, but Luke had run it over with his car to daze it before stabbing it with Backbiter. The fight was over before it had even started.

After a long, _long_ day of driving they finally got to Denver Colorado at about 9:00 at night. None of them were truly hungry, since they had been munching on snacks all day, but they were all in the mood for some human interaction and real food, so Luke drove to a family diner that was still open and not too busy.

Percy didn't get the chance to go to simple diners with his mom very often. Maybe other people saw this kind of thing as a regular, not special thing, but for Percy this was a treat. He had a really hard time deciding what he wanted to get. He couldn't choose between chocolate and banana pancakes, and a Reuben sandwich with a side of onion rings. Since Grover was getting himself a quesadilla Luke suggested that they just get both the pancakes and the sandwich and split them.

Percy was grateful for Luke's suggestion. On the rare times that Percy and his mom went out to eat they would get two small meals and share them. It was how Percy felt most comfortable eating out, but he hadn't been the one to suggest it.

Shortly after they ordered their food Percy suddenly felt a hollow, angry feeling form in the pit of his stomach. He didn't know why, but he was absolutely. He was mad at the gods, at Smelly Gabe for all the crap he put his mom through, Percy was even a little mad at Luke for keeping secrets and acting like he knew everything.

Grover tensed and looked out the window anxiously. He was bouncing his leg rapidly and clenching his fists into his pants. Luke's expression darkened into that angry look that Percy didn't like but was starting to get used to. While Luke looked angry, there was also a strange look of fear in his eyes. He looked as terrified as he looked mad.

"This cannot be happening," Luke muttered as a biker pulled up to the diner on his motorcycle. Luke stood up and held out his hand as Percy started to do the same. "You guys stay here. I'll take care of this guy. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"What are you doing?" Percy asked. "Maybe I can help?" Grover's eyes widened in alarm and he shook his head rapidly.

"I'll just be outside," Luke said. "If there's a problem, you'll be able to see if for yourself. For now, just stay here, take deep breaths, and stay calm." Luke ruffled Percy's hair before he made his way outside to meet up with the biker before he came in.

Percy seethed slightly. "Who is that guy?"

Grover glanced around anxiously, worried about being overheard. "Percy, that's Ares,"

"Wha-hang on," Percy's anger was briefly overcome with confusion and concern. "Like, the god of war?" Grover nodded, his eyes darting rapidly between Percy and Luke, who looked pale and ready for a fight. Percy knew that at least part of that was because of the hostile aura that Ares had to be radiating, but he thought that the biggest reason why Luke was tense was because of What Ares was saying to him. The god of war was picking a fight with a teenager, and that should not be okay.

Percy got to his feet and slipped away from Grover's grip as he tried to grab him. He made his way towards the door of the diner, ignoring Grover's pleas for him to come back. Luke was out there being confronted by a god, and Percy wasn't about to sit back and let him deal with it on his own. Luke needed backup and support.

Luke and Ares had been staring each other down and hissing harsh warnings and threats, but when Percy stepped out the door both of their attention turned to him. Luke looked even more frightened than before while Ares just looked smug and extremely punchable.

"Ah, this must be the little hero I've heard so much about," Ares said. The sound of his voice rubbed Percy the wrong way and made him feel even more irritated than before.

"What have you been saying to Luke?" Percy said angrily.

"Percy," Luke gave him a warning look. Ares just smirked.

"Nah, let the boy speak his mind. I like some spunk in my demigods." Ares said.

"I'm not your anything," Percy scowled. Ares chuckled.

"Oh, you're going to be a fun one, little cousin, I can tell," Ares said. Percy was taken aback for a long moment. It took him far too long to remember that Ares was a son of Zeus, who was one of Poseidon's brothers. Technically speaking, they were cousins, but it didn't feel right, and Percy didn't appreciate being called that by this infuriating god.

"What do you want?" Luke asked Ares impatiently.

Ares gave Luke a look that Percy didn't understand. "I just came to check up on the sneaky little thief that managed the impossible and stole the master bolt."

Luke froze and glared at Ares, though for some reason the fear in his eyes got even stronger. Percy barely noticed it though. He was too busy glaring at Ares himself.

"I'm not a thief." Percy said.

"Sure you're not," Ares said. "But I'm not here to talk about that."

"Whatever you want, just say it already," Luke said. "As you know, we've got things to do and places to be."

"I'll get right to the point then," Ares said, looking at Percy. "I've misplaced my shield around here, and need you to fetch it for me."

"I'm not your errand boy," Percy growled.

"You're whatever I want you to be," Ares' eyes flared up from behind his sunglasses.

"Luke held up his hand to stop Percy from really losing his cool. "What do we get out of this?"

Ares huffed. "Since you've got transportation covered, I can tell you where to find the underworld. L.A. is a big place to look." Percy didn't want to listen to anything this guy had to say, but he realized that kind of information would come in handy. Percy hadn't thought twice about finding the actual entrance, but now that they were so close to their destination he knew they should probably figure out a proper plan.

"I already know where to find the entrance." Luke said confidently. "DOA Recording Studios." Percy was shocked and even Ares looked shocked. A moment later Ares' face slipped back to his default smug grin.

"Right, I forgot about Hermes' part time gig as a guide to the underworld," Ares said. "I guess you're a real chip off the old block, aren't you? A jack of all trades."

Luke scowled, obviously unhappy about being compared to his dad. This discomfort was exactly what Ares had been going for.

"If we don't need your information, why should I do anything for you?" Percy asked heatedly.

Ares seethed and for a long moment Percy thought he felt heat burning off of him. This was terrifying. Ares tilted his neck from side to side, cracking it audibly. He looked at Luke and crossed his arms. "Hey, I can't force the kid to do anything. I was thinking of talking to you about our little secret, but if you want the kid involved in that conversation he's free to stay."

Luke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Perce, we don't want to anger this guy, so maybe it'll be good to listen to him."

"You want me to go get his stupid shield?" Percy was surprised at Luke. The older boy was so against doing anything for the gods, he'd been reluctant to even go on this quest, and yet he was suggesting that Percy go out of his way to help yet another god find his lost object.

Percy couldn't help but wonder why the gods so frequently lost items that they claimed were so important to them. Where would the gods be without any demigods to threaten and boss around?

"We may not need Ares' help on our quest, but we definitely don't want him as an enemy," Luke said as he watched Ares cautiously. Just get Grover and get the shield."

Percy was sure that this was a trick of some kind, but he wasn't worried about his own safety. He was confident that he and Grover could figure out whatever came their way on this very small quest. He was more worried about Luke. Ares had mentioned a secret between them. What secret could Ares possibly be holding over Luke to scare him so much?

"Will you be alright on your own?" Percy asked, though he knew how Luke would answer before he even finished asking.

"I can take care of myself," Luke smirked. Watch out for each other and then we'll split that sandwich and pancakes."

Percy scowled. He wasn't happy about this, but even though he felt protective and frustrated he knew that he wouldn't be able to beat Ares in a fight, at least not right now. "Fine," Percy reluctantly made his way inside, though as soon as he was out of sight he paused and pressed his ear against the door. He wanted to know what Ares was talking to Luke about.

Their voices were muffled, but Percy was able to hear Ares say something about chicken and cold feet. Luke's response was completely inaudible. Percy opened the door ever so slightly and strained to hear. He was able to catch what Ares had to say next.

"I'm not taking the fall of this," Ares growled. "I don't care if you are my nephew, if I'm going down, you're coming down with me."

"Percy?" Grover's voice made Percy jump. He turned towards Grover, who was watching him curiously and slightly nervously. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Percy said quickly and quietly. He didn't want the others to know that he'd been listening in on them. Grover gave Percy an unimpressed look, clearly unconvinced. Percy continued before Grover could call him out. "Ares is sending us to recover his shield for him."

Grover frowned. "We're already in the middle of a quest."

"I know, but Luke insisted," Percy said. "Let's just get this over with. The sooner we go the sooner we can get back to Luke and leave Denver behind us."

The side quest to get the shield wasn't as bad as Percy was worried it would be. Ares told them exactly where they could find it, and of course there was a trap there, because why would anything be simple? It had been humiliating, but not exactly life threatening, so Percy supposed it could always be worse. Under different circumstances he might let himself linger on his frustration with the gods for being humiliated and taken advantage of, but he had something else to worry about. They had to get back to Luke.

When they got back to the diner they found Luke and Ares sitting at the table, their untouched food sitting on the table waiting for them. Somehow everything was still hot and fresh. Ares must've been influencing it somehow. Percy supposed he should be grateful, but he really wasn't in the mood.

Percy scowled and tossed the shield at Ares, who caught it effortlessly. It turned into a bulletproof vest in his hands, and somehow no one else in the diner seemed to notice it.

"Not bad, kid," Ares said. Luke didn't say anything. He just looked at Percy before he lowered his gaze to the table. He looked like he had a lot on his mind, and Percy felt his anger at Ares increase.

"What did you say to him?" Percy demanded.

Luke tapped his fingers against the table and Ares chuckled. "That's our little secret, cousin. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner or later. And because I'm feeling generous," Ares waved his hand and summoned an old backpack. Luke eyed it cautiously like he didn't trust it, but it looked completely normal. Ares tossed it to Percy, who caught it easily.

Percy looked inside and wasn't surprised to see that it wasn't really anything they needed. Some money, both bills and golden drachma, and snacks, all things that they already had. The one thing that Percy was glad to see in the backpack were changes of clothes. It had only been a few days since they'd left, and Percy still had his spare clothes, but sitting around all day made Percy feel dirtier and smellier than usual. He would love a warm shower, but fresh clothes was a fresh second.

Even if it weren't for the clothes in the bag, Percy would have accepted the gift. It wasn't great, but it was still from a god, and Percy didn't want to offend this guy.

"I'll catch you kids later," Ares smirked and left the table. Percy glared at him until he disappeared from sight, and then he continued to glare at the place where he had been.

"I hate that guy," Percy growled.

"Join the club," Luke still looked a little anxious, but he seemed much more relaxed than before. He grabbed the sandwich and pancake plates. Luke grabbed one of the halves of the sandwich, transferred half of the pancakes in the stack to the sandwich plate, and then put the sandwich half that he was holding to the side of the pancake plate. Luke passed Percy the plate that had the pancakes covered in the most whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

Percy felt like he was too angry to eat, but the smell of the food made him willing to push his anger to the side at least for a few minutes.

Luke grabbed an onion ring and dipped it into the whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Percy scrunched up his nose in slight disgust, but mostly curiosity. Onions with chocolate didn't sound very good, but neither did chocolate and potatoes, and yet Percy liked french fries and shakes. Percy decided to give it a try for himself. It was...interesting.

"This is so gross," Percy grinned as he dipped his onion ring back into the sweet mixture to have another bite. He didn't think he liked it, but he couldn't stop eating. It was disgusting and oddly appealing.

"Right?" Luke chuckled. Percy might have continued eating his onion rings like that, but he had a better idea. He put half of his share inside of his sandwich before taking a bite. The rings added a much needed crunch.

"Now _that_ looks good," Luke copied Percy's example. Grover watched both of them in distaste as he stuffed his face with his quesadilla.

"You two are terrible," Grover said.

"You're just jealous of our culinary genius," Luke said. Percy just laughed, and Luke gave him a big smile. "There we go. Don't let the gods get you down, Perce. They suck, but that doesn't mean you have to let them get to you." Luke's grin broadened and a mischievous glint came to his mind. "You know, I have a great game for us to play."

Grover coughed and choked slightly on his food. When he recovered he looked at Luke in disbelief and horror as though the older boy had sworn like a sailor in front of a small child and his grandmother.

"Luke!" Grover hissed and looked around anxiously. "No, please, no. I hate that game."

"Come on, it's fun," Luke said. "Not to mention very therapeutic."

"It's dangerous," Grover said. "Remember what happened last time you played? Ou almost got caught by Mr. D. You're so lucky he didn't know what was going on, or he would have destroyed all of you."

"Well, Mr. D isn't here, is he?" Luke smirked. He turned back to Percy, who was experimenting with dipping his Reuben sandwich into the chocolate. It wasn't nearly as good as the onion ring had been, but Percy didn't gag and feel the need to spit it out, so he considered it a success.

"So, you want to learn my favorite game?" Luke asked. Percy's mouth was full, so he just nodded and hummed in agreement. "The rules are simple. All you gotta do is pick the three gods that you hate the most, and then rant about them."

Percy swallowed his food. "How is that a game?"

"That's what I've been wondering for years," Grover muttered.

"It's a whole lot of fun, that's how," Luke said.

"It's disrespectful," Grover said.

"Hey, they disrespect us all the time," Luke said. "It's only fair that we have the same chance."

"Well, if we're going to play your game, then we have to play mine," Grover said. Luke rolled his eyes, but Percy nodded. If they were going to be playing Luke's choice of game that Grover didn't like, it was only fair that they also play a game of Grover's choice that Luke didn't like.

"Looks like I'm outnumbered here," Luke sighed. "Fine, we'll play your variant."

"How's it go?" Percy asked.

"You have to name a trait that you like or admire about each of the gods you hate most," Grover said. "I don't care if you say you like the color of their eyes or think they have fashionable clothes, you need to share something positive about them."

It sounded difficult, but Percy was up for the challenge if Luke was. "Let's do it."

"I'll start," Luke said far too eagerly. "Right now my third least favorite god is my dad." Percy and Grover both looked at him in shock.

"Third?" That wasn't what Percy expected.

"I've never seen him lower than first," Grover said.

"That's 'cause he's the one always on my mind." Luke said. "After everything that's happened though, I've remembered some old resentments."

"Okay, well, why don't you like your dad?" Percy asked. He had a fairly good idea, but Luke said this was how the game went. If talking about it made Luke feel better, then he should have the chance to talk about it.

"Partly it's because he's never around," Luke said. "Mostly though it's because he still pretends he cares. Whenever I _do_ see him he acts like he's worried about me and how I'm doing. As far as I'm concerned, he doesn't have a right to worry about me like that." Percy understood a bit. It reminded him of some of his teachers and counselors who claimed to care whenever they happened to talk to him, but if Percy ever needed help, if he ever got in trouble at school, they were always the first ones to turn on him.

Luke flipped one of his pancakes over to spread the syrup around. He nodded at Percy. "Alright, give it to us, who is your third least favorite god?"

Percy hadn't actually had a lot of experience with any of the gods, but he had one in mind. "Dionysus."

"Yeah, I figured," Luke nodded. "A lot of new campers say the same thing."

"He just doesn't care about us, at all," Percy said. He didn't exactly hate Mr. D, he barely knew him well enough for that, but that was part of the problem. "He's the camp director, and he couldn't be showing how little he cared if he tried. He can't even be bothered to remember our names."

"Oh, he knows the names of every single camper," Grover pointed out.

"He just doesn't care enough to call us by our actual names," Luke said. "It's his way of reminding all of us that he sees himself as above us."

"He sucks," Percy said confidently. He looked at Grover. "What about you? Which of the gods do you hate?"

Grover grimaced. "Hate is such a strong word,"

"I'll tell you what," Luke said. "Forget hate. Just tell me a god that you don't like something about. Just a single god."

"Well, uh, Apollo," Grover said quietly, like he was afraid of being overheard.

"The god of the sun and poetry?" Percy frowned in confusion. Of all the gods to dislike, wh choose him?

"He might as well be the god of arrogance," Luke muttered.

"He's definitely really proud," Grover said. "He doesn't like being wrong. Just look at what happened to Marsyas."

"Who?" Percy looked at Luke.

"A satyr who competed in a music contest against Apollo, and was flayed alive for even daring to challenge him," Luke said. Percy paled and felt like he was going to be sick. That was so wrong in so many ways.

"I get why you might not like Apollo," Percy said. Grover nodded and looked back to Luke.

"Alright, my turn again," Luke said. "Hades. He cursed the Oracle of Delphi. If he hadn't done that, my mom wouldn't be the way she is now."

"Hades is my number two too," Percy said, though it had been a really close call. "He stole my mom from me, he's been spending his monsters after me, and I don't even understand why."

"Well, maybe when we get to the underworld you can ask him." Luke said. "I guess it's back to me, and actually, my least favorite god right now is Apollo."

"Is he really that bad?" Percy asked.

"Normally I'd say no," Luke said. "But his stupid oracle and prophecies ruin everything. They make people paranoid, chasing after or trying to avoid things that they don't even understand." Percy felt a twist in his stomach as he remembered the line in this quest's prophecy about him being betrayed by a friend. He wouldn't be half as worried about this quest if it weren't for that stupid line in the prophecy.

"That's fair," Percy said. "As for my number one, I've gotta go with Zeus."

"A lot of people hate that guy," Luke said.

"He's blaming me for something that I never even did," Percy said heatedly. "And when I try to do him a favor and make it right, he makes it almost impossible for me to do it. Like, does he want me to get him the master bolt back or not?"

"So, Ares isn't in your top three," Luke commented.

"He's a jerk and makes me so mad," Percy said. "But I think everybody gets like that around him. With Dionysus, Hades, and Zeus, it's a lot more personal." Percy had seen a lot of different kinds of bullies, but the ones he hated the most were the ones who seemed to have a personal vendetta against somebody, but no reason behind it. Percy would rather people be jerks to everybody than terrorize just a single person.

"Alright, alright, time to play my game," Grover said. "You have to name something good about the gods you listed. I'll go first. Apollo actually cares about his kids." Luke scoffed and scowled, but allowed Grover to continue. "He's one of the few gods who claims his demigod children almost as soon as they get to camp. And if he ever meets any of his kids he's never shy about talking to them."

That sounded more like the Apollo that Percy had been thinking of after hearing some of the myths. Apollo could be vengeful when angered, just like any of the other gods, but he wasn't above showing his softer side when the mood hit him.

Luke didn't look like he wanted to say anything, so Percy took the initiative and went next. "Dionysus...uh…" Percy really didn't know a lot about the guy. He had to think for a long moment before he remembered a few things he'd heard about Dionysus in the myths. Namely about his habit of turning people into animals or making them lose their sanity.

"At least Mr. D doesn't, you know, make us go mad whenever he loses his patience with us," Percy said. "He just conveniently forgets our names."

"There you go," Grover said cheerfully. "That's the kind of positivity I'm looking for here." It was a low bar and seemed much more reasonable now. Grover looked at Luke expectantly. The older boy sighed.

"Fine," Luke ripped an onion ring apart. "He cares about my mom. Nowhere near as much as he should, but Chiron said that Hermes tried to talk her out of trying to take on the oracle, and last time I saw my mom my dad was there too, just checking on her. She deserves more of his attention, but what he gives her is better than nothing."

It was Percy's turn again, and he had no idea what to say. He didn't know what to say about Hades. He barely knew anything about him, as he wasn't even talked about in many of the myths that he had heard. "Can we tag team on this?"

"Of course," Luke said. "Well, Hades usually keeps out of the lives of the demigods,"

"Except when he doesn't feel like it," Percy scowled.

"Yeah, except for then," Luke chuckled and nodded. "He's a guy that looks after himself, and I guess I can admire that." Percy didn't think that he felt the same way, not when Hades looking after himself had been exactly what had led to his mom being taken.

Since Luke spoke for both of them when it came to Hades, Percy decided it was only fair that he go next. "Well, Zeus is the leader of the gods, and they've been around for thousands of years. That can't be easy." Percy still didn't like Zeus, but he could acknowledge good leadership skills. That wasn't to say that Zeus was perfect, far from it, but he knew how to demand respect.

"Alright, Apollo, Apollo," Luke thought for a long moment, much longer than any of them had to think about their answers. Finally he sighed and gave his answer. "We have him to thank for Camp Half-Blood being a thing in the first place."

"Wait, really?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Luke gave him a small, strained smile. "Apollo forced a friendship onto Chiron and taught him almost everything he knows about training demigods. Apollo then introduced Chiron to his first students and gave him the idea of expanding."

"I had no idea," Percy said. That seemed strangely nice for a god who was apparently really self centered. Especially when he wasn't given any recognition for it.

"Chiron teaches us to respect the gods," Luke said. "But he avoids talking about his personal experience with the gods when he can. He knows it wouldn't go over well with a lot of the campers."

"Maybe we wouldn't be so mad at the gods if we actually knew what they've done for us." Percy said.

"Yeah, maybe," Luke said. He sounded unconvinced, but he wasn't completely rejecting the idea, so Percy thought that was a step in the right direction.

"See, this wasn't that bad," Grover said.

"Yeah, it wasn't," Luke rolled his eyes. "I still prefer my game."

"I liked them both," Percy said. He'd learned a lot of things, both good and bad, that he hadn't known about the gods before. Percy felt like the more he knew, the more he could do to fix what was wrong. Percy still didn't feel ready to confront Hades or Zeus, but he was getting there. He just needed some more time. Percy just hoped that the one more day that it would take them to get to Los Angeles would be long enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had Luke's little game on my mind since I first thought of this story, and it was fun to finally write it.


	8. Chapter 8

Percy was way too tired of sitting around in a car all day, but when they reached Los Angeles he felt much better. He had thought that as they got closer to their destination he would be terrified of everything that he would have to face when they went to the underworld, and at first he was, but then he caught a glimpse of the ocean.

Living in New York all his life, Percy had gotten used to seeing ocean and water everywhere, but it was a sight that he never got tired of. The sea always left him feeling breathless and calm. It brought thoughts of freedom and strength to his mind. It reminded him of his mom. It smelled like home.

When Percy mentioned that last bit in his excited ramblings about the ocean Luke rolled down all of the windows. It was a lot noisier, but Percy loved the smell of the sea. It almost made him forget that they were on their way to the underworld.

Luke had told Aries that he knew how to get to the underworld, and Percy trusted him. He was a little curious, but really excited, when Luke drove closer and closer to the ocean. Percy practically had his face pressed against the window as he watched the violent and high waves. During the drive he'd frequently been terrified of the harsh winds and waves. The times when he had slept most during the drive was when the storm had been at its absolute worst and Percy needed to block out the threat and noise.

As afraid as Percy was of the storm, he had nothing but fascination for the way that the ocean reacted to the bad weather. He knew that the ocean was probably really dangerous in this kind of weather, but Percy was too in awe to really be afraid of it. The waves looked far too cool for Percy to let his caution get the better of him.

Luke drove closer and closer to the ocean until he pulled up right next to a nearly abandoned beach. Percy could tell that this beach would be extremely crowded if it was nicer out, but the storm had chased off all the people. They almost had the entire beach to themselves.

Grover seemed reluctant to go out into the storm, but Luke dragged him out. Percy ignored the storm and ran towards the shore. Percy had taken his shoes off during the long drive, and he hadn't been bothered to put them back on when they stopped, so he just ran right up to the water and allowed the cold waves to wash over his feet. The chill made him shiver, but it felt really good. Being close to the ocean made everything feel better.

Percy just stood there for several minutes, taking in the sea. This was his dad's territory. Feeling so comfortable around the ocean was part of Percy's birthright. After everything Percy had heard from Luke about the gods, it felt weird for him to feel so naturally at ease in his dad's territory. Percy still didn't know how he felt about Poseidon.

"Hey, Perce," Luke came up to him and ruffled his hair. Because of the rain his hair was soaking wet and stuck all over the place thanks to Luke. "What's going through that head of yours?"

"I don't know," Percy muttered. "I've just always been drawn to the ocean, you know? And now I know it's because of my dad. I don't know if I care about him one way or another, but I'm still drawn to the ocean, you know? I still want to be near it."

"Just because your dad's the god of something doesn't mean that you're obligated to love or hate it," Luke said. "Just look at me. I couldn't care less about my dad, but I still love being on the road. It may have come from him, but it's still part of who I am."

Percy looked at Luke. "I didn't know you liked travelling."

"I get a little antsy if I'm in one place for too long." Luke said. "I never feel safe. When I'm on the move, anything that might have been after me is suddenly far behind me."

"But don't you live at Camp Half-Blood year round?" Percy asked.

"That's because it's still my home." Luke said. He chuckled darkly. "And Chiron is reluctant to let me leave for good. Unless campers have a plan and a place to go when they're not at camp, Chiron doesn't like them to be away from the safety of the camp."

"But you're an adult," Percy said. "And you've been at camp for so long. You'd be able to handle yourself just fine."

"That's what I've been trying to tell Chiron," Luke said. "I"ve been playing with a few ideas though, and hopefully I'll be out of there soon."

"What kind of plans do you have?" Percy asked. "Jobs? School?"

"I can't really imagine having a real job," Luke said. When Percy thought about Luke working in an office or store he couldn't help but chuckle. Luke would probably end up tearing the limbs off of anybody who dared to be rude to him in the way that people often were to struggling employees.

Luke looked thoughtful for a second. "Although...I really do like being there for demigods who have nobody else to turn to, but you have no idea how many demigods there are out there who don't even know about camp, or don't want to be at camp at all. They still deserve a safe place to go though, and if I can give that to them, be somebody they know they could count on in a way that they could never trust the gods, I would be happy."

"That's so cool," Percy muttered in quiet awe. "Like a foster home or homeless shelter just for demigods,"

"Except better," Luke said. "Safer." Luke put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "You know, just because I hate the gods doesn't mean you have to too. If you think you're drawn to the ocean because you want to have a connection with your dad, it might be worth a shot to try to talk to him. Who knows, maybe he'll even listen to you?"

Percy looked at Luke in shock. Had someone come along and possessed Luke? This was the last thing that Percy had expected to hear from him. "You want me to have a relationship with my dad?"

"I want you to see for yourself what the gods are like, not just take my word for it." Luke said. "And when we go down to the underworld, I don't want you to have any regrets."

Percy took a deep breath. He hadn't thought much about trying to talk to his dad, at least not since leaving camp. While at camp Percy had felt extremely lonely, and that loneliness had come because of who his dad was. It was tough to deal with, but Percy had thought that it might have been a little easier if he had some kind of relationship with his dad. Right now, they were practically strangers, and Percy didn't appreciate being judged and cast aside because of the actions of somebody he didn't know anything about.

Luke gave Percy a gentle push towards the water. "Go ahead. Check out the ocean. I'll wait right here for you."

Percy still wasn't sure if he wanted to try to talk to his dad, but it wasn't often that he got to see the ocean so close, and he hadn't really done much with water since being claimed by Poseidon. Percy knew that he had water powers, but he didn't know exactly what he could do. At camp he'd been too busy learning general demigod skills to really figure out just how far his control of the water went. He wanted to know just what he could do.

Percy walked into the water and let the waves crash over him. He felt like he should be knocked over by the force of the waves, but somehow he kept his balance. Percy walked until the water was up to his chest. He then waited until just before a wave that was large enough to go over his head hit him, and he dove straight into it.

The ocean was in chaos under water, but a different kind of chaos than the waves on the surface. The water felt both cold and warm around him. He could feel the water swirling around him. He imagined if he was a normal person he would be tossed and turned all over the place, and maybe even be pulled out into the sea. Because of his influence of the water, it left him alone. Percy was able to just sit on the ocean floor and let the tide wash around him.

Percy closed his eyes and just felt the water around him. He didn't think he could feel his dad's presence, but he didn't mind. While it would be nice to be acknowledged by his dad, Percy felt like if he actually had the chance to talk to his dad it would be really bittersweet, and Percy didn't want his moment in the water to be ruined. He felt at peace now, and he didn't want to do anything to change that.

Percy was so content that he lost track of time. He was probably sitting there for a few minutes before he realized that he didn't feel the suffocating burning of running out of air. He had no issue breathing at all. Percy was able to breath under water. Percy didn't feel like this was a new development, but he'd never noticed it before. He had gone swimming as much as he possibly could as a kid. How could he have not noticed something like this?

Percy remembered when he was younger his mom would never let him swim unless she was watching him. She would pull him out of the water whenever he was under for more than thirty seconds, when Percy still felt like he could hold his breath for much longer. Before, Percy had thought that she had just been overly protective, but now he wondered if it was because she suspected he could do something like this. She had wanted to protect him from the knowledge of his powers.

Percy sighed and leaned back until he was laying on the ocean floor. He watched the surface of the water above him. A few more minutes later Percy felt a change in the water. He could sense some power here.

"My lord," Percy heard a woman's voice say. He sat up and turned to see a beautiful woman with flowing hair coming towards him. For a moment Percy thought that it was his mom, but she felt incredibly different. This woman had an aura about her.

"Who are you?" Percy asked. His voice sounded muffled and distant through the water, but the woman seemed to understand him just fine. She gave him a gentle smile.

"I am a Nereid, one of your father's loyal attendents." The woman said. Percy had never met an ocean nymph before, but he was more concerned about what else she had said.

"My father," Percy felt both impressed and annoyed. "Did he send you?" The Nereid nodded. "Why couldn't he have just come for himself?"

The Nereid's smile became sad and sympathetic. "There are old laws that forbid the gods from directly interfering in the lives of their children. This is especially true for Poseidon and his brothers."

Chiron had said similar things before, but Percy didn't buy it. Luke and other kids at camp had met and talked to their godly parents. Zeus had bothered to turn Thalia into a tree when she'd been dying. It was obvious to Percy that the gods could find a way to get around that dumb rule, Poseidon just couldn't be bothered to try.

"Do not despise your father, young lord," The Nereid said. "He has done far more for you than you will ever know."

"And I'm just expected to take your word for it?" Percy asked. If Poseidon had ever done anything for Percy, he wanted to know about it. How else was he supposed to trust that his dad did actually care?"

"He has sent me to give you a gift that you will need for your quest," The nereid held out her hand and offered three pearls to Percy. He reluctantly accepted them. "What belongs to the sea always returns to the sea." Percy knew she was talking about the pearls, but he couldn't help but get the feeling that she was also referring to him.

A part of him felt comforted by that. He had always associated the sea with home. It was a nice thought to know that no matter where he went and what he did, the sea would always be there to take him back. However, Percy couldn't help but wonder if the Nereid's words were a threat. That she was saying that as a son of Poseidon, he belonged to him and would never be able to escape from that.

Percy knew that probably wasn't what she meant, but he was angry and bitter, and he was seeing the worst in everything.

Still, she'd said that Percy would need these pearls, and as conflicted as Percy felt they were still a gift from his father, the only gift that Percy had received directly from him. Despite how much Percy was frustrated with his dad, and how he had never felt the need to have his dad in his life, because his mom had always been more than enough, he couldn't help but long for even the smallest bit of attention.

Percy's mom was gone. She was the only parent he had ever known, and he didn't know if he would ever see her again. He may have never cared about his dad until recently, but Percy couldn't handle the thought of not having any parents at all. It was terrifying. If there was even the smallest possibility that Poseidon would give Percy attention or affection, he was going to latch onto that hope. If he couldn't have his mom, then Percy needed his dad.

Percy stared at the pearls and clenched his fist tightly around them. He appreciated them, and despised them at the same time. He appreciated the attention from his dad, but he hated how little it was. It just wasn't enough.

Percy sighed and slipped the pearls into his pocket. He brushed his fingers against his lighter that was still in the pocket. Percy had so many thoughts running through his head, but the only clear thought that came to him was his curiosity about whether the lighter would still work. He would think that the lighter would be ruined, but Percy was able to breathe, and that wasn't supposed to happen underwater either. Maybe whatever was protecting Percy from drowning was also protecting the lighter.

Percy gave the Nereid a stiff smile. "Thank you." He still felt conflicted and frustrated, but that wasn't her fault. The Nereid seemed really nice, and Percy didn't want to project his frustrations with his dad onto her. She didn't deserve that.

"Be strong and brave, my young lord," The Nereid said. "Your uncle can be scary and intimidating when he wants to be, but he's still family. He and Poseidon have a decent relationship with each other. Unless you find Hades in a particularly bad mood, he may let you live long enough to explain your story."

"Well, that's reassuring," Percy said. He had no idea if Hades and Poseidon's 'decent relationship' meant that they actually got along with each other, or if it just meant that they only sometimes wanted to kill each other. Percy didn't think he wanted to know. "I'll try to watch my tongue." Percy hated censoring himself and what he wanted to say, but after so many years of living under Gabe Ugliano's thumb he had learned how to watch what he said, at least for a bit.

If he could watch himself for Gabe, he could do it for the Lord of the Dead.

"You'll do well, young one," The Nereid brushed Percy's hair behind his ear, though it didn't stay very well. Percy appreciated the gesture though. It reminded him of his mom. "Your companions are waiting for you."

Percy was slightly alarmed when he realized just how long he had been underwater for. Luke probably knew that he was fine, but Percy didn't doubt that Grover was panicking. Percy got to his feet and pushed off of the ocean floor to swim up to the surface. He hadn't been that far out into the ocean when he'd first sat down, but after several minutes the water must have pulled him further out because Percy actually had to swim up to break the surface, and he was much further from the shore than he had started.

The waves were strong and crashed over Percy. He didn't resist it. He just submerged himself again and swam as he let the waves push him towards the shore. It was rough and a little scary, but whenever Percy felt like he was too out of control and felt ready to panic, the waters softened. The ocean was his father's realm and Percy's domain. The waters wouldn't hurt him.

As soon as Percy got close enough to the shore that he was able to stand up without fear of being knocked over Grover ran out to greet him. Grover ran into him with so much force that he lost his balance and both of them were sent sprawling.

"Don't just disappear like that," Grover scolded once they were no longer spattering and struggling to get back to their feet. Luke laughed as they returned to the shore.

"How'd it go?" Luke asked.

"My dad sent a Nereid to talk to me," Percy said. "He couldn't be bothered to come himself though."

"Typical," Luke rolled his eyes. "What'd she have to say?"

"She gave me some pearls and said that Hades might not kill me right away," Percy said.

"How useful," Luke said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and annoyance. Percy felt some of his own stress and annoyance lighten. It was comforting to know that his friend was as bothered about this as he was.

"Are the gods always this stressful and annoyingly cryptic?" Percy asked. He hadn't even talked with Poseidon today, but he was still tired of interacting with the gods.

"In my experience, yes," Luke said. "On that note, who's ready to go to the underworld to talk to another self-important god?"

"Not me," Percy sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

"Then let's get to DOA Recording Studios," Luke gave a very small bow and gestured dramatically to the car. "Your chariot awaits, little hero,"

"Shut up," Percy gave Luke a shove. Luke just chuckled and gave him a shove in return, nearly knocking Percy over again. Percy waited until Luke walked past him before he tackled him and jumped on his back. Luke stumbled slightly, but quickly recovered and latched his arms around Percy's legs to keep him from getting off or falling. Luke ran towards the car, racing Grover as Percy squirmed and tugged as much as he could to throw Luke off.

It was dumb and silly, and more fun than it had any right to be. Percy had way too much fun. Because Percy had spent the vast majority of the past six years going to strict boarding schools, and any time he was at home he was expected to follow his dumb step-father's rules, he hadn't had a lot of chances to mess around and do silly things like this. Percy imagined that Luke, who had to grow up way too quickly, hadn't had very many stupid fun moments either.

Maybe they should be more serious. They were on their way to the underworld, and none of them expected Hades to treat them civilly and fairly. They should be getting ready for a fight or coming up with a strategy, but none of them wanted to do that. They didn't get a lot of chances to goof off, and Percy doubted they would have very many more opportunities for a while after this. He wanted to enjoy this while it lasted. He would worry about the underworld when they got there. Until then, Percy was going to take advantage of every second he got.


	9. Chapter 9

Percy had thought that getting into the underworld without being dead would be incredibly hard, but Luke said it was surprisingly easy. Leaving the underworld was where things got complicated. When Percy asked how they were going to leave the underworld, Luke just shrugged and said that they would just figure it out if they got that far.

Luke was right, getting to the underworld was simple. They just had to have a golden drachma each, and Luke said that he was the son of Hermes, and that was all that was needed for Charon to happily take them across the River Styx. He seemed to know Hermes and actually liked him decently enough, so he was more than happy to do them a favor.

Percy had thought that Luke would be frustrated about having to rely on his dad's name to get into the underworld, but the older boy didn't so much as scowl. He didn't even look angry or start talking off when Charon told him to say hi to Hermes for him. Luke just nodded absently as they got off the boat.

Percy and Grover exchanged confused glances. Something was going on with Luke. He must have a lot on his mind if it was even stronger than his hatred for his dad.

Percy was about to ask Luke what was going on what he stopped in his tracks and looked back towards them, a confident smirk on his face. He looked normal, but Percy knew it was just an act. Luke couldn't have gotten over whatever was going on with him so quickly.

"Alright, Grover, shoes off." Luke said. "The only people here are spirits who couldn't care less about if you have goat feet or not. And now that we're underground, Percy can wear those shoes, just like we planned."

Grover was all too happy to kick off his shoes and pants. He handed the winged shoes to Percy, who was a little more reluctant. He gave Luke a cautious look.

"Are you sure I'll be able to fly with these here?" Percy asked.

"Positive," Luke said. He gave Percy a reassuring smile, though there was an odd look in his eyes. "I swear, nothing bad's going to happen to you while you're wearing those shoes."

Percy really wanted to believe him, but he was anxious to be down here, and he had no idea what was bothering Luke, or why he felt the need to hide it. He trusted Luke, but he wanted just a little more assurance.

"Will you swear by the River Styx?" Percy asked. Luke looked alarmed, and Grover looked between them anxiously, but Percy wasn't stepping down. He'd been told that such an oath was the most serious promise that somebody could make. It was like what Percy used to see pinky promises as when he'd been about five.

Luke glanced towards the River Styx, which they were still standing right next to. He closed his eyes and turned back to Percy. His eyes had softened and looked somewhat pained. Percy hoped that meant he was letting his walls down and being sincere.

"I don't like to swear by the River Styx," Luke said quietly. "It's talked about as a very serious thing, but the gods frequently break the oaths they make."

"They do?" Percy asked.

'The big three swore on the River Styx to not have any more demigod children, and, well," Luke gestured to Percy, who felt embarrassed and irritated. He didn't like to think about how he was the result of a broken promise. It wasn't a good feeling. "Poseidon's not really being punished though, at least not that any of us know of. It's just another thing where the gods think they're above the standards that they hold everybody else to."

Luke sighed. "The point is, I just don't like swearing on the River Styx, just for the principle of it, but I'll do you one better." Luke leaned forward slightly so he was closer to Percy's eye level. "My version is less binding, but way more personal. So, Percy Jackson, I, Luke Castellan, swear in the name of my mother, May Castellan, that I will do my best to not let anything bad happen to you while you're under my protection."

Percy took a deep breath and felt some of the tightness in his chest loosen slightly. Luke was right, this one did feel better. If Luke was going to keep the promise, it was because he wanted to, not because he felt threatened into it.

"Okay," Percy said. He put on the shoes and wiggled his toes to get used to the feeling. The shoes were way too big for him, but they were secure enough at the heel that Percy wasn't worried that they would fall off. He still wasn't completely sure about going into the air, but if he needed to actually use them, he wanted to feel comfortable enough to do it.

" _Maia,"_ Percy said, like he had heard Grover do multiple times before. Wings appeared at the heel of the shoes and Percy lurched forward slightly as they lifted him into the air. He was worried that they would throw him against the wall or speed him through the underworld, but they just calmly hovered a few inches off the ground.

"They'll listen to your thoughts," Luke said. "Like an extension of your feet. They'll only go where you want them to go."

"Wait a second," Grover frowned. "Why did they go nuts on me then?"

Luke shrugged. "Satyrs weren't meant to fly."

Grover pouted and crossed his arms. "Neither were sons of Poseidon." Grover was bitter and jealous, but he didn't linger on it too much. When Luke started walking through the underworld Percy fluttered slowly behind him while Grover was nearby to make sure that nothing bad suddenly happened.

Luke led them past all of the spirits and straight through the gates of the underworld. Percy was worried when he saw Cerberus, but all Luke had to do was give him a little wave and the three-headed dog let them pass through without problems. Percy had never heard of Hermes being a guide to the underworld until recently, but now he didn't think he was ever going to forget it. Luke may not like getting his powers from his dad, but they definitely came in handy.

Percy was curious about everything he saw, but he couldn't ask much about it. Luke was clearly not in the mood to answer any questions, and Grover was already really nervous. Percy didn't want to make Grover even more anxious by asking about the details of the underworld.

The question that Percy had the hardest time keeping to himself was where his mother was. She hadn't technically died, she'd just been taken away, so would she be in the Fields of Asphodel? Or was she somewhere completely different? The only thing keeping Percy quiet was that he doubted that Luke actually knew the answer. The only person who might was Hades, and they were on their way to his palace now.

As they went Percy's shoes jerked every once and awhile. Percy didn't know what was going on. Maybe Zeus had some control in the underworld after all, and he was messing with him. Maybe Percy's thoughts were just so jumbled that the shoes were a little confused. Percy didn't know, he just wished it would stop. He was nervous enough as it was, he didn't need his flying shoes going nuts on top of everything else.

Luke occasionally glanced towards Percy, frowning slightly when he saw him jerk around in the air. Percy thought about landing, but he was just starting to get used to this. Besides, it wasn't every day that Percy was able to fly, and he wanted to enjoy it as long as he could.

As they passed through the Fields of Asphodel Percy could see Hades palace in the distance. The weird thing was that they didn't seem to be walking straight there. They seemed to be walking just to the right of the palace. Where were they going?

Percy was about to ask Luke why they weren't going to the palace when his shoes jerked him far to the right towards a cave. Percy yelped and tried to rein his shoes in, make them listen to him, but they just dragged him more. It felt like the shoes were finally doing what Percy had expected them to do from the start. Why now though? What had changed?

"Percy!" Grover grabbed Percy's hand, but instead of stopping or pulling him down to the ground the shoes just ended up dragging both of them along. Luke watched them with wide eyes. He looked frozen, which really wasn't like him

"What's happening?" Grover asked, his voice trembling, showing his anxiety.

"Make it stop." Percy yelled as his shoes were pulling him towards a cave. He tried to pull his shoes off, but they seemed to be stuck and it was really awkward to bend forward to try to reach his feet. Percy had no reason to think that something wrong was happening, but with every foot he was pulled the more anxious he felt. He was terrified.

As Percy was pulled into the entrance to the cavern he shuddered as he realized that this place felt incredibly familiar. He had been here before. Maybe not in person, but he'd definitely been here in a dream, or a nightmare. Percy still didn't know who was here, but he had no interest in finding out. He wanted to get out of here.

"Luke, help!" Percy said in a shout that was just shy of a scream.

There was a long pause, way too long for Percy's comfort. His shoes were dragging him deeper into the cavern. Percy thought he saw a pit ahead when Luke came running into the cave, a determined yet conflicted and terrified look in his eyes.

"Grover, try to hold him back," Luke said as he withdrew his sword. "Percy, I need you to hold as still as you can, okay? This is going to be close."

Percy clenched his eyes shut tight. He had an idea what Luke was up to, and he didn't like this plan at all. He didn't want that sword anywhere near his feet, but he also didn't want to be dragged anywhere near that pit. He wanted to get out of this cavern. Percy couldn't believe it, but he would rather be confronting the lord of the dead than stay in here for a minute longer.

"Just do it," Percy whimpered. Nothing happened right away. Percy could hear Luke breathing heavily and muttering under his breath. Percy tried to understand what he was saying, but there must be a breeze or something in the cavern, because Percy felt a chill and thought he heard some moaning in the cavern.

The chill and moaning only got louder, but Percy didn't dare open his eyes to see what was going on. He would rather not know.

Luke grunted in frustration and Percy heard the sound of his sword being swung. Percy flinched as one of his feet dropped towards the ground. It was released. Percy opened his eyes just in time to see Luke use his sword to cut the wings off of his other shoe.

Percy fell on top of Grover, who was still clinging tightly to him. He quickly and effortlessly picked Percy up, pulled Grover to his feet, and ran back towards the entrance of the cavern. Percy couldn't help but stare towards the pit as Luke ran. The moaning was louder and sounded almost angry. Percy felt like he was in his nightmare again. The only thing missing was the scared boy being tormented by his lord.

The scared boy who had sounded so familiar. Percy hadn't been able to place the voice before, and he hadn't thought much about him since he'd woken up, He'd been too worried about Luke, who'd been having another one of his nightmares. Those nightmares seemed to happen all the time, and the boy in Percy's dream seemed to frequently be shown things that he didn't want to see, as punishment.

It was probably just a coincidence. Percy desperately wanted it to be a coincidence, but when he tried to remember what the boy had sounded like, all he could hear now was Luke. Percy had to know.

Once they were outside the entrance to the cavern Luke stopped running. He set Percy on the ground and sat down next to him. Luke was breathing harshly, and Percy didn't think it was just because Luke had been running. He sounded like he was about to start freaking out. He was hyperventilating worse than Grover was.

"...Luke?" Percy looked at his friend in concern and slight caution. "What was that cavern?"

Grover shook his head. He looked like he was going to be sick. Percy suspected that Grover knew what was going on and really didn't want to talk about it. It must be really bad to bother these two so much.

Luke tossed his sword carelessly to the side, which Percy was shocked to see. At camp Luke could go on and on about proper sword care and respecting your weapon. Seeing him treat his own personal sword like this was just wrong.

Luke took a deep breath and faced Percy. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Percy said. He was freaked out, but he needed some answers. He couldn't afford to panic right now. "But what happened?"

Luke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "That pit in there was the entrance to Tartarus." Grover shuddered, and Percy felt a shiver go down his spine as well. He knew that Tartarus was a prison for the worst kinds of monsters and titans. Percy didn't want to have anything to do with that place, and the thought that he'd been so close to falling into the pit was absolutely terrifying.

What was even scarier was just why he'd ended up that close to Tartarus. "Why were your shoes trying to drag me into the pit?" Percy couldn't keep his voice from cracking. He was scared of what Luke would say.

Luke hesitated for a long moment before he reached for Percy's backpack, which he'd almost forgotten he had. "It wasn't really about you." Luke said. Percy wasn't used to hearing him sound so self-conscious and unsure. Luke opened the backpack and showed the inside to Percy. "It was about this."

Percy looked in and flinched when he saw the contents of the backpack. He reached a hand in and pulled out what could only be the master bolt. Grover's eyes widened in alarm when he saw it and he scrambled back as though he was afraid that it was going to attack him. Grover's eyes were glued to the master bolt, but Percy's gaze was only on Luke.

How did you know it was in there?" Percy asked. Luke didn't answer immediately, his silver tongue failing him. Percy felt the pit in his stomach get worse. His cheeks felt weird, though he didn't know if it was because blood was rushing into his head, or pulling away from it. He felt both furious and absolutely terrified, and he didn't know which was stronger.

Percy shrank away from Luke, holding the backpack and the master bolt close to his chest. "Luke, how did you know?"

His lack of a response was answer enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are really coming to a head now.
> 
> I thought about having this chapter from Luke's point of view, but it just didn't feel quite right. Next chapter will be from Luke's point of view though, promise. It's about time we get into that boy's head.


	10. Chapter 10

Everything had been going according to plan. Ares had gotten them the backpack that held the master bolt. Luke had been able to convince Percy to wear those winged shoes. They were so close to getting the bolt to Kronos, and then they'd be able to fix the world and make it a place safe and friendly for demigods. This was what Luke had been working towards for two years. He should be excited about this, and yet he felt absolutely terrible.

Luke knew that sacrifices had to be made to achieve what he wanted. He had reluctantly come to terms with the fact that many of the demigods that he had recruited would end up dying in the upcoming war. He didn't want any demigods to get hurt at all, but they all knew what they were signing up for when they joined his army. They understood the risks, and they, like Luke, believed that it would be worth it to make the world better.

But this was different. Percy wasn't one of his soldiers. He wasn't a demigod recruit who was willing and waiting to give his life for the betterment of demigods as a whole. Percy was just a kid who had been scorned by the gods and didn't deserve all of it. Luke hadn't thought twice about it when Kronos had told him to use Percy. Somebody had to take the fall, and a powerful half-blood child of Poseidon was the perfect candidate.

But Percy wasn't just a son of Poseidon, he was a kid. Percy was kind, protective of his family, and fierce. Under different circumstances Luke would have tried to recruit Percy to join them, but Kronos had other plans for him. Luke had little choice but to obey, and he'd convinced himself that it would all end up okay.

But then he'd gotten to know Percy, and he'd become really fond of him. Luke was reminded of why he was doing all of this. It wasn't just for him, and it certainly wasn't for Kronos. The titan was just somebody who was helping Luke achieve what he wanted. All of this was for kids like Percy, and yet the kid had been the one who had almost taken the fall, and Luke had almost let it happen.

It made Luke feel sick to his stomach. Percy didn't deserve any of this. Luke knew that Kronos would be absolutely furious, but he could deal with that later. Luke was the one who had agreed to help Kronos in the first place, it was his responsibility to deal with him.

First though he had to make sure Percy was okay. After all, demigods like Percy were the reason why Luke was doing all of this. Kronos was just a means to an end.

"Percy, I can explain," Luke said. He flinched even as he said it. He felt like one of the gods, about to give one of their meaningless excuses.

"Oh, I can't wait to hear it," Percy growled with as much hurt and fury as a twelve year old could muster. "Really, I'm all ears."

Luke was about to give him assurances and explanations, but Grover cut in before he could. "Don't listen to him, Percy," Grover's voice trembled. He was clearly scared, but still fierce. He really was one of the best demigod protectors. Luke had always admired that about him, but he didn't appreciate having his fury directed at him.

"No, I want to hear what he has to say," Percy insisted. He glared at Luke, his eyes wet with distress and anger. "Why did you steal the master bolt, and why did you blame me?"

"It wasn't my idea," Luke said desperately. He was responsible, but he had never meant to hurt the kid. "I was following orders."

"That voice in the cave," A very small conflicted look appeared in Percy's eyes. His anger was fighting with concern. "So you _were_ the boy in my dream." Coming from anybody else, this would be a confusing and slightly concerning knew what it meant though. Half-bloods had meaningful, almost prophetic, dreams all the time. Percy must have had a dream about one of Luke's conversations with Kronos. That was concerning.

"What dream?" Luke asked. Percy started to explain what he could remember about a cave, a threatening voice, and a scared servant who was being punished. Luke actually remembered that particular dream. He wouldn't soon forget Kronos torturing him through manipulation of his dreams. It was unfortunate that Percy had seen that.

"Who was your lord?" Percy asked once he had finished his explanation. He still sounded upset and frustrated, but he seemed to be in a better space to listen to what Luke had to say.

"Kronos," Luke said without hesitation. He wasn't going to hide anything from Percy anymore. He liked Percy, he still wanted to be his friend, which meant that the kid had to trust him. Luke couldn't expect Percy to trust him if he wasn't honest with him first.

Grover looked like he couldn't decide whether he was angry or terrified. "You were working for Kronos?" The poor satyr sounded just moments away from attacking Luke. His goat legs were shaking.

"Do you actually want to know why, or do you want to burn me at the stake?" Luke asked. Percy gave Grover a stern look. Grover probably didn't want to listen to Luke at all, but Percy clearly wanted to hear what he had to say, which Luke appreciated. Grover huffed and crossed his arms, but he nodded.

"I'm tired of living under the gods rule." Luke said. Percy nodded. He already knew that much. "The gods took power from the titans, because they didn't like how they ran the world, and Kronos and his brothers claimed the world from their father. It's the natural order of things, for children to inherit power from their parents, but the gods are resisting that. They push us down with an iron fist because they know it's our right to claim the world from them."

"We can't possibly be strong enough to defeat the gods." Percy said.

"Which is why we need Kronos," Luke said. "With his power and our numbers, we might actually have a chance."

"But then we'd be stuck with titans ruling the world instead," Grover spoke up. "They're evil."

"Have you heard of the five ages of man?" Luke asked. "The golden age, the silver age, the bronze age, the heroic age, and the iron age." Grover frowned and nodded, but Percy shook his head. Luke wasn't surprised. They didn't talk about the ages of man at camp, because there they were taught to care about the gods above anything else. Luke hadn't heard of them until he'd looked into what the mortals believed about the gods. It was completely different from reality.

"The golden age was the time when the titans ruled." Luke said. "It's called the golden age because it was a time of peace and hope for mankind. They were able to thrive without having to work. They didn't have to fight the land for their food. Everything just grew in abundance, because Kronos was the titan of the harvest.

"After the golden age ended, things just got worse and worse, and now we're stuck in a new age that is a cross between the silver age, where the gods punished anybody who didn't worship them, the bronze age, where humans were made for war and nothing else, and the iron age, where the strong could do anything they wanted, just because they had the power to force others down."

"You can't possibly want humanity to go back to the golden age," Grover said. "Mortals were completely oblivious, no better than animals. Prometheus and Pandora may have brought misery to mortals, but only because they brought them knowledge. That has nothing to do with Kronos or Zeus."

"Zeus and the gods interfere in the business of mortals," Luke said. "Kronos didn't care enough about the mortals to medle. The titans minded their business, the mortals minded theirs. With the gods gone, we might finally have the chance we deserve to fix the world."

"Do you really think that Kronos would let us do that?" Percy asked in disbelief. "Chronos said-"

"Has anyone at any of your schools said that history is written by the victors?" Luke asked. Percy stared at him numbly. "Just because the gods won doesn't mean they're right, it just means they're powerful. Do you understand?"

"I...kinda understand wanting to overthrow the gods," Percy said slowly, cautiously. "But I don't understand what that has to do with me."

Luke sighed. "Nothing." Percy just had the misfortune of being born from the wrong god at the wrong time, catching the attention of everybody who hated him just because of who he was. "You didn't deserve any of this. I didn't mean for any demigod to get caught in the middle of all this, I just lost sight of what really mattered."

Percy was quiet for a moment. He seemed to be struggling internally. Luke kept quiet. Percy deserved the chance to consider this himself and come to his own conclusion. Luke had done enough to hurt Percy.

After a minute or two Percy sighed and loosened his grip on the backpack. "Kronos forced you to have a nightmare. Was he responsible for all of your nightmares?"

Luke was reluctant to answer, because he didn't like to admit vulnerability, but he couldn't lie to Percy, not when he'd asked him a direct question. "Yes, he was,"

"How long did this abuse go on for?" Percy asked. Luke blinked. That sounded like an exaggeration.

"I wouldn't call it abuse," Luke said. Grover gave him an odd look.

"Dude, I've been going to schools for 'troubled' kids for years." Grover said. "I've seen plenty of abuse of all kinds, and trust me, being threatened by somebody who is more powerful than you is abuse. And so is being given nightmares and losing sleep."

Luke wasn't completely convinced, but the two of them didn't seem as angry at him, and he didn't want to disagree with them about that. If they wanted to call his relationship with Kronos abusive, so be it. "This has been happening one and off for two years, since I returned from my quest."

"So Kronos found you while you were at your most angry and vulnerable, and used that to manipulate you for two years," Anger returned to Percy's tone, but it wasn't aimed at Luke anymore. He was getting angry on Luke's behalf, and he appreciated it. This was definitely preferable to his friend hating him.

"You can't keep working for him." Grover said. Percy nodded in agreement.

"I can't just give up what I've been working on for two years," Luke said.

"I'm not saying you have to stop trying to make the world better for demigods." Percy said. "But I really don't think you should continue working for somebody who hurts you and couldn't care less about the people that you're trying to help."

"You've changed a lot since two years ago," Grover said quietly. "You used to care so much about the other half-bloods,"

"I still do," Luke said almost desperately. The demigods were some of the only people he cared about.

"But you haven't been acting like it," Grover said. "You're distant and angry. Kronos has been changing you."

Luke wanted to disagree, but he knew that Grover was right. He wasn't the same person that he used to be. He had convinced himself that it was just one of those sacrifices that were necessary to achieve what he wanted, but maybe he'd taken things too far.

"I can't promise to stop working for Kronos," Luke said. He had dedicated so much time and energy to this. "But I'll tell you what. It'll take him some time to put another plan into action. While he plans, I'll take a break from him and focus just on the other demigods." He thought that was a more than fair compromise, but neither Percy nor Grover looked completely happy with it.

"You need to focus on yourself too," Percy said. "You're just as important as everybody else."

"Alright, alright," Luke sighed. "I'll think about it. Right now though, maybe we should think about getting out of here." Luke had spent far too much time in his nightmares being in these cabins. He didn't want to be here while he was awake too. Especially since Kronos was probably absolutely furious about this sudden change in plans. Luke didn't think he'd be getting any sleep for the next few weeks, at the very least.

"Uh...wait a second," Grover looked around almost anxiously. "We came here to get the master bolt back from Hades, and we thought that he was sending his monsters after us to stop us from taking them back,"

"But he wasn't the thief," Percy realized. "Why was he attacking us?"

"Uh, about that," Luke rubbed the back of his neck. At that moment they heard a loud, all too familiar screech. Luke acted quickly. He grabbed Backbiter and stood up. He stepped defensively in front of Percy as a fury came flying towards them. Luke was more than ready for a battle, but she didn't seem ready to attack. She just glared at them, her eyes lingering on the master bolt in Percy's hands.

"Percy Jackson," The fury growled. "You can't run anymore, honey. My lord is eager to have a few words with you."

Percy looked equal parts scared and angry as he got to his feet to stand next to Luke. "Yeah? Well, I've got a few things to say to him too."

Luke put a hand on Percy's shoulder. It wouldn't be right to let Percy take on the lord of the dead on his own. "Let me talk to him." Unlike Percy, Luke actually knew what Hades wanted. He may be able to talk him down.

Percy looked at Luke cautiously. "Are you sure?"

Luke smirked and gave Percy a confident look. "Hey, I know a thing or two about appeasing angry lords." If Luke could face and angry Kronos with his head held high, he could definitely stand up to Hades.

Percy and Grover both seemed incredibly nervous, but as they followed the growling and screeching fury towards Hades' palace, Luke could only feel like the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders. Every step he took brought him further away from the cave and pit to Tartarus and further away from Kronos. He knew that the titan would make him pay for this defiance, but he could deal with that later.

Luke knew that he shouldn't underestimate Hades and his anger, but he couldn't possibly be as bad as Kronos. Regardless of how angry Hades was, Luke would shoulder the blame himself. Percy had nothing to do with any of this, and he didn't deserve Hades' wrath.

When they got to the palace Luke made sure that Grover and Percy were behind him. The least he could do was keep Hades attention off of them, and he thought he had an idea on how to do just that. He just hoped that the god of the underworld remembered his father's old weapon after all this time.

When they stepped into the throne room and Luke saw Hades he felt a wave of fury come over him. This gods' curse was the reason why his mom was the way she was. He pushed that anger down. He couldn't think about his mom right now. Percy was the one in immediate danger at the moment. He was the one that Luke had to focus on.

When Hades saw Percy his eyes flashed with fury and he looked like he wanted to destroy him right then and there, but Luke stepped in his way. "I have a few things to say that may interest you."

Hades narrowed his eyes at Luke. "Who are you."

"Luke Castellan," He said. He didn't say his father's name, as he was sick and tired of being identified by who his dad was. He didn't expect Hades to know him at all, but the god narrowed his eyes in slight recognition. He didn't say anything,so Luke continued. "You can't believe that this kid, who hadn't even known that the gods were real a month ago, actually stole anything from you."

"Wait a second," Percy frowned and looked at Luke in confusion. "You stole from Hades too?" Grover squeaked and cowered ever so slightly. Luke flinched and Hades glared at all of them. This wasn't exactly how Luke wanted things to be revealed.

" _You?_ " Hades growled.

Percy grimaced and gave Luke an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Luke said. He was pretty good at winging it. He could do this. He turned to Hades, clutching his sword tightly. "Yes, my lord, me. I'm the one who stole your helm of shadows and the master bolt last winter."

Hades got up from his throne and walked slowly towards them. Luke swallowed thickly and pushed the other two behind him. He stood up as straight as he could as Hades approached him. He wasn't going to let himself show his fear.

"Bold of you to steal from me and trespass in my realm," Hades said quietly. His tone almost made him sound soft spoken, except it was incredibly threatening and intimidating. It sent shivers down Luke's spine. "I hope you've come to return my property to me, boy."

"I can't," Luke said. Grover and Percy looked at him in shock. He quickly continued before Hades had the chance to destroy him where he stood. "Because I don't have it on me. I only needed to bring the master bolt down here."

"Then where is my helm?" Hades asked slowly. It was clear to Luke that the only thing keeping Hades from killing him was that he needed to know where to find his helm.

"Ares has it." Luke said.

"I knew it!" Percy exclaimed angrily. "Gods, it makes so much sense now! No wonder he gave us the backpack. And he was blackmailing you."

"Perce, now's not the time to get mad at the god of war," Luke reminded him. He wanted the focus on him, not on the kid.

Hades raised an eyebrow at them. "Ares put you up to it?"

"He shouldn't have been involved at all," Luke said. "He really gave me no choice."

"Then who was responsible for putting you up to it, boy?" Hades asked. "Who's idea was it to steal from me?" The god took a step closer to Luke, and he instinctively raised his sword to keep him back. Hades scoffed for a moment at Backbiter, but then his eyes widened as he took a closer look at it.

"Is that-?" The pale god somehow seemed to pale even more.

"You want to know who I was working for?" Luke asked. "Take a wild guess."

"You have no idea the powers you are working with, boy," Hades' voice shook from anger and fear.

"I know," Luke said. If he'd known two years ago just what Kronos would put him through, he probably would have never agreed in the first place. He would have found a different way to make the world a better place for demigods. "But I've been messing with them for two years anyways."

"Foolish child," Hades growled. A desperate, angry fire was burning in his eyes. Luke finally couldn't help but flinch and pull back slightly. This was it. Hades was going to blast him into a million pieces, and then probably move right on to Percy and Grover.

Percy nudged Luke's wrist. The older boy wondered if Percy was trying to hold his hand, but when he opened his hand Percy slipped something small and round into his grip. "Shatter it," Percy muttered. Luke didn't entirely understand it. He turned his head ever so slightly to look at Percy out of the corner of his eye. The boy nodded at him.

Well, what did he have to lose? Luke clenched his fist around the pearl, feeling it give a little bit. It wasn't nearly enough though. Luke grew tense and harshly threw the pearl against the ground. He heard Percy and Grover do the same. Suddenly Luke was hit with a strong scent of salt water. It smelled like the ocean, but overwhelmingly so, like water from the sea went up his nose and wouldn't leave.

Luke felt a rush and pull. Percy clung tightly to his arm as they were pulled up. Luke heard Hades scream in fury, and then everything that he heard became really muddled. They were under the water. Percy started to swim up to the surface, pulling Luke and Grover with him. One wouldn't think that a twelve year old would be strong enough to pull a nineteen year old and panicking satyr behind him. Percy's water powers must be helping him.

When they got to the surface Grover started coughing and flailing around in a panic. Luke blinked rapidly. His limbs felt incredibly heavy and didn't want to move at all. It suddenly hit him just how much he had angered Hades, as well as Kronos. Considering how furious Ares, Zeus, and probably also Poseidon, would be as soon as Hades told them what Luke had said, and he would be lucky to live through the week. The gods and titans were going to be lining up to kill him, or curse him, or just send him straight to either the fields of punishment or Tartarus.

"Luke," Percy nudged him. "In the middle of the ocean is not the best place to be freaking out. Just keep it together for a few minutes until we're on dry land, and then we can all freak out together."

"Freaking out sounds nice," Grover said, his voice trembling. Luke nodded weakly. He couldn't do a lot to help swim to shore, but he did his best to try swimming. Grover kicked wildly next to him. Percy and his powers ended up doing most of the work. It wasn't too long before they were coming up onto shore. Grover gasped for breath and crawled onto the beach. Luke groaned and brushed his hair out of his face.

Percy took a deep breath and tilted his head back. "Okay, now we can freak out." Percy pulled out his pen and uncapped it. He swung it towards Luke, who quickly raised Backbiter to block the attack.

"Guys, do you have to do this now?" Grover anxiously looked between the two of them.

"Yes," Percy growled. His eyes were full of nothing but anger.

"I was wondering when that fury was going to come back," Luke said. He wasn't going to hurt Percy, but he had to defend himself.

"You used me!" Percy yelled. "The oracle was right all along."

Luke narrowed his eyes. He hated prophecies so much. "What did the oracle say?"

"She said I would be betrayed by a friend," Percy's voice cracked. He lowered Riptide ever so slightly, though his grip was just as tense as ever. "And she was right. You...you…" Percy trailed off into a whine and he brought his free hand to his eyes.

Luke frowned and lowered his sword. "Kid-"

"No," Percy said with a shake of his head. "I don't want to hear it. I just...I can't."

Luke sighed and sheathed Backbiter. "Okay." He couldn't force Percy to hear him out if he didn't want to. Luke wanted to explain himself, but he could get the chance later. After all, they had to get all the way back to New York to return the master bolt and clear up Percy's name once and for all. It will take several days to get back. Luke could find the chance to talk then.

"Come on," Luke said. He walked past Percy and put a hand on Grover's shoulder. The satyr gave him a sad look. "We've gotta get back before the solstice, and we've got a long drive ahead of us." Percy didn't move for a long moment, and Luke was worried for a bit that the younger boy would refuse to follow him. It would be very understandable, but it would be a lot easier if he cooperated just until they got back to New York. Luke didn't want to try to find a new way for Percy to get back. Especially not when Zeus was still so furious with him.

After a few long moments Percy sniffled, put the cap back on his sword, and turned to follow Luke. Percy refused to look at him, and he made sure to have Grover between the two of them at all times, but this was better than Luke had expected, and much more than he deserved.


	11. Chapter 11

The drive back to New York was even less eventful than the drive to Los Angeles, but it felt even longer. Luke frequently tried to talk to Percy, but he did his best to ignore him. Percy spent the majority of the trip napping, because he didn't have to listen to anything that Luke said if he wasn't awake.

The one disadvantage to sleeping so much was that Percy had a lot of dreams and nightmares. He dreamed he was back in that cavern. He saw his mom in the underworld. Most of his dreams though involved Hades. Hades fuming and yelling about Luke. Hades looking almost scared as he looked towards the entrance to Tartarus. He saw Hades talking to a man that looked a lot like Luke, as well as a lot of the kids in the Hermes cabin. Percy could make a pretty good guess about who this guy was.

Percy heard them talking, but when he woke up he couldn't remember it. The only thing that Percy could remember was that Hades and Hermes had mentioned a curse.

Percy couldn't remember most of his dreams. He remembered important places and the people involved, but that was it. He sometimes didn't mind it so much. He could definitely live without vividly remembering that cavern. Other times though it was beyond annoying. He knew that one of his dreams he saw Hades talking to these two men who he referred to as brothers. Zeus and Poseidon. Percy's dad, and the god who had accused him of being a thief. Percy would have loved to know what the three of them were talking about, and it was infuriating that he couldn't remember a thing.

As much as Percy slept, Luke seemed to avoid sleeping even more than he had before. Besides stopping for a quick lunch or bathroom break, Percy didn't think they stopped at all. If Luke ever stopped to sleep, it would have had to have been during one of the times when Percy was asleep.

It was concerning and definitely not healthy, but Percy didn't say a word about it. Just as long as Luke got them back to New York alive and in time for the Summer Solstice, Percy couldn't bring himself to care too much about whether his friend was sleeping or not.

Besides, Kronos talked to Luke through dreams. At least for now, it was probably a good thing that Luke wasn't sleeping and being exposed to Kronos' manipulation. It obviously wasn't a permanent solution, but until they figured something else out this would have to do.

Percy clung tightly to his backpack whenever he was awake. He didn't want to have anything to do with the stupid master bolt, but he refused to let anything else happen to it. Everybody else would just blame him again, whether it was his fault or not.

Luke eventually stopped trying to explain himself to Percy. They just drove in tense silence. Even Grover, who could talk quickly and nervously when he was really anxious, didn't dare to say anything. It was the most awkward car drive Percy had ever sat through, and it was a big relief when Luke pulled up to the bottom of Half-Blood Hill.

"This is your stop," Luke said. He turned in his seat and looked towards Percy without looking directly at him. "I'll take it from here."

Percy stared at Luke for a long moment before he sighed and handed over his backpack. Luke gave him a small, tense smile, and for the first time since Percy had learned that he had been the one who had stolen the master bolt he saw that old friend and cabin counselor that he had come to enjoy the company of.

Percy had been clinging to his anger and betrayal, but all of a sudden he was hit with an overwhelming sadness. He'd been through so much in such a short period of time, and he just wanted a break. He needed everything to stop.

"Just...be careful," Percy said quietly. Luke looked shocked, like he hadn't expected Percy to show concern for him, but he nodded in appreciation.

"I'll do my best," Luke smirked, though it looked a little strained. "Watch out for yourself, kid." Percy sighed, took a deep breath, and left the car. Grover followed close behind him, rubbing his arms anxiously.

"Are you sure that trusting Luke with the master bolt is the smartest thing to do?" Grover asked. "What if he runs off with it?"

"The gods wouldn't let that happen." Percy said. Hades knew that Luke had stolen the bolt and Percy knew that he had talked to Zeus and Poseidon. He must have mentioned it. All of the Big Three knew that Luke was responsible for the theft. They were going to be keeping an eye on him. This wasn't something that he'd be able to just walk away from.

Percy had no idea what the gods were going to do to punish Luke, and he didn't want to think about it. Considering the punishment just scared Percy, and then angered him when he remembered that he could have just as easily been the one to be punished for this. It was easier to just pretend it wasn't happening and wait until it was all over.

Grover didn't look convinced, but he didn't say more on the matter. He just stared at the car as Luke drove away, and then he took Percy's hand and gently pulled him back towards camp. Percy didn't exactly want to rejoin all of the other campers, but being on this hill was bringing out some bad memories about his mom and the minotaur.

As soon as they stepped past Thalia's tree Grover immediately relaxed. They couldn't be attacked by monsters here. They were safe. The only thing they had to worry about was dealing with everything that had built up this past week.

It was really late at night, so there were no campers around. It was strange to see camp this empty. It would have been a little scary if it weren't for the ever blazing torches and the lights on in the Big House. Even if there wasn't a fair bit of light Percy didn't think he would be scared. He had just gotten back from the underworld and nearly got dragged into Tartarus. The dark just couldn't bother him after all that.

Grover looked towards the forest, where the satyrs were, and then towards the Big House. He looked conflicted between reporting to the other satyrs and reporting to Chiron, but to Percy's surprise he did neither. Grover just tightened his grip on Percy's hand.

"It's been a week since we've slept in a real bed." Grover said. He had never really cared about sleeping on a bed before. In fact, sometimes Grover felt most comfortable just curled up underneath a big tree. "What do you say we just tell everyone what happened tomorrow?"

Percy sighed in relief. He really didn't want to be alone right now, but he was too embarrassed to ask for company himself. Grover was always so good at knowing just what Percy needed. "That sounds really good."

Percy and Grover made their way to cabin three. It was nice to be back, but after several days of doing very little except for sleep he just wasn't tired. Percy turned on the lights and made his way to his bed. He grabbed his blanket and draped it over his shoulders, snuggling close to it. The whole cabin smelled like the sea, but especially the blanket.

Grover sat down right next to Percy. "How are you feeling?"

"Like my life's one big cosmic joke." Percy said. "Definitely doesn't make me want to be a hero."

"Classic Greek heroes had tough lives," Grover said. "It's just part of the package."

"Yeah? Well, it's a package I wish I could return." Percy groaned and laid back. "I can see why Luke hates quests." Percy would gladly just stay at camp and pretend that training was all just a game if it meant not having another week like the one he'd just had. Many of the campers like Annabeth and Clarisse may not be content with just safely faking it, but Percy would gladly switch places with them in a heartbeat. Let them have these life-shaking quests if they wanted them so much.

Grover was quiet for a long minute. "You're a demigod, Perce, and that's not really something you can change." Grover's voice shook, but he gave Percy a smile. "We can pretend for a bit though. Tomorrow, after we talk to Chiron, me and you are going to do some camp stuff. Not for training, but because archery, and sword fighting, and rock climbing are cool."

Percy stared at Grover for a moment, not entirely understanding what he was getting at. Grover grinned and scooted closer to Percy. "Come on. You can't tell me that if you came to this camp, with no Greek god strings attached, you wouldn't absolutely love it."

Percy thought about it. "No, you're right." Take away the real life threats, and the entire reason why they did all this training, and Percy would think that Camp Half-Blood was the coolest place in the world. Even being a social outcast wouldn't have been able to crush his spirits, because there were enough distractions around that he wouldn't have even cared that he didn't have anybody other than Grover to share it with.

Grover grinned broadly, already looking much less nervous than he had a few minutes ago. "So that's what we're going to do tomorrow. Pretend this is just a normal camp with a really awesome theme."

Percy smiled to himself. That actually sounded really fun, to just relax and not worry so much about whether he was good enough. Maybe they could go swimming, which Percy hadn't really been able to do much of at all since coming to camp, or give those canoes a try. Grover would probably love a nature hike, and Percy would like it too, just because of how non-threatening it would be.

Percy and Grover soon started talking about what they would do. Percy wanted to spend some time doing stuff with the Aphrodite or Apollo cabins. Those campers were some of the most laid back and outgoing kids at camp. Whenever Percy saw them they looked like they were having an absolute blast, and he wanted some of their wisdom of how to accomplish that.

Besides, they were some of the campers who hadn't given Percy as strong of a stink eye as everyone else had. If they didn't take training as seriously as everybody else did, why would they take the personal issues between the gods as seriously?

Percy and Grover talked for a few hours until it started to lighten outside as dawn approached. Grover deflated slightly as he looked outside. He stood up and held a hand out to Percy.

"We should probably go talk to Chiron." Grover said.

"Now?" Percy frowned. "Can't it wait a little more?" He would rather put this off as long as possible.

"Sorry," Grover said, and he sounded like he really meant it. "Everybody else is going to be waking up soon, and as soon as they see you you're going to be bombarded with questions."

"And more accusations." Percy's shoulders slumped. He knew the drill.

"If we can explain everything to Chiron he can be the one to talk to everybody else." Grover said.

Percy knew that Grover was right, but that didn't mean he had to be happy about it. He groaned and stood up, though he kept his blanket wrapped around his shoulders. It was soft, warm, and the smell brought him comfort. And strength, which he definitely needed right now. "Let's just get this over with."

Percy followed Grover out of the cabin and towards the Big House. It was so early that even the early risers in the Ares and Apollo cabins were still asleep. Grover had definitely made a good call about this.

Grover just let himself right into the Big House. It felt weird to be in here so early, but Grover seemed perfectly comfortable. He walked towards a door that had an extremely tall and wide door. It was obvious that this was where Chiron slept. Grover knocked on the door.

"Hey, Chiron, we're back." Grover said. They immediately heard some clopping and a moment later the door was opened.

"Percy, Grover," Chiron looked relieved and just a tin bit shocked, which was annoying. Had he sent Percy on a quest that he hadn't thought he'd be able to complete. "You're back early. How was your quest? Are you alright?"

"We're fine," Percy said automatically, though that didn't feel quite right. He was far from fine. "The good news is that we were able to find the master bolt." The terrible news was that Percy hadn't been able to save his mom. He hoped that Hades would give her back, since he now knew that Percy hadn't been the one to steal from him. Percy wasn't getting his hopes up though. After the week he'd had he was reluctant to be optimistic.

"That's wonderful," Chiron said. "Where is it?"

"Luke went to take it to Olympus." Percy said. Chiron frowned slightly.

"You were supposed to be the one to return the bolt." Chiron said. "Zeus believes that you're the one who stole the bolt. You returning the bolt would be seen as a peace offering."

"A very dangerous peace offering that would probably get me blasted to pieces." Percy said. He didn't trust Zeus to be grateful enough to not hurt him the second he showed his face.

Chiron didn't look completely satisfied and Percy felt annoyed and upset. Why should he have to risk his life to make up for something that he hadn't even done. He'd gone on this stupid quest, wasn't that enough?

"By now Zeus should know that I wasn't the one who stole his master bolt." Percy said. Hades should have explained everything, and Luke probably had too. "Having the thief give the bolt back himself is the best chance to calm Zeus, which is exactly why Luke is the one who went." Percy said. Grover's breath caught in his throat and he looked between Percy and Chiron uneasily.

"Luke?" Chiron frowned. "Are you sure?"

Percy understood that Chiron had known Luke for years, and it was hard to suddenly accept that one of your beloved campers had betrayed the gods like this, but Percy couldn't help but be mad. Chiron had seemed to have no issue with Percy being accused of being a thief, but the second someone implies that Luke was the real thief he was questioning them.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Percy said shortly. Grover put a hand on his arm to try to calm him. Percy took a deep breath and tapped his finger against his thigh.

"A lot has happened in a short period of time," Grover said. "A lot of really serious stuff that I'd be more than happy to explain." Grover looked at Percy. "But, uh, we just got back and Percy's really _really_ tired."

"Yes, of course," Chiron said somewhat reluctantly. "Get some rest, Percy. You certainly deserve it."

Grover smiled at Percy. "Don't worry, I'll explain everything."

That was a huge weight off of Percy's shoulders. "Thank you." He really wasn't in the mood for explaining himself. He was beyond grateful that Grover was willing to lie to get him out of this.

"Just take it easy," Grover said. "I'll catch up with you later." Percy nodded and quickly left the Big House. He still wasn't tired, and he definitely wasn't in the mood for making himself vulnerable to dreams and nightmares. Maybe he'd get an early breakfast before everybody woke up and then just spend some time at the beach.

Percy walked towards the beach, passing the cabins aas he went. He had thought that nobody else would be around, but then he saw three figures sitting on the front steps of the Hermes cabin. As Percy got closer he was able to recognize Travis and Connor Stoll sitting on either side of a girl that he didn't recognize at all. She must be a new camper that had arrived while Percy had been gone.

Percy faltered ever so slightly in his steps as he looked at them. Seeing them sitting there, comforting a little girl who was probably feeling a little homesick and very overwhelmed, Percy remembered what Luke had been like when he'd first come here. Percy had thought that Connor and Travis would have been far too mischievous to be good mentor figures, but they seemed to be doing very well with this girl. They seemed to genuinely care.

It took a moment before the others noticed him. One of the brothers, though Percy didn't know which one, quickly got to his feet. He said something to the other Stoll, who nodded at him, then he made his way towards Percy. He was reluctant to talk to anybody right now, but Percy didn't really want to be alone either. He waited for the other to join him.

"Percy!" The Stoll brother grinned at him, though there was concern in his eyes. "How'd your quest go? You look about as good as Luke looked when he got back from his."

"Hey, uh…" Percy paused, feeling awkward. He felt bad that he didn't know which brother he was talking to. "I'm sorry, but which-"

"Travis," He grinned, not seeming to mind at all that Percy hadn't known his name.

"Right, Travis," Percy said. "The quest was...fine."

"Sure sounds like it." Travis said. He put an arm around Percy's shoulders. "Come on, why don't we go to the beach? I could do with an early morning walk."

"You don't have to." Percy said. Travis and Connor were the heads of the Hermes cabin while Luke was gone. They had so many kids that they had to worry about, and Percy wasn't one of them. He shouldn't burden them.

"Yeah, but I want to." Travis said. "You may have been claimed, but as far as I'm concerned once a child of the Hermes cabin, always a child of the Hermes cabin."

Percy gave him a small, weak smile. "Thanks." He let Travis pull him towards the beach.

"So, what happened?" Travis asked. "Where's Luke?"

Percy swallowed thickly and started to scratch lightly and quickly at the back of his hand. Travis watched him for a minute before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag. He opened it and held it out to Percy.

"Here." Travis said. "Pick your poison."

Percy looked in the bag and saw what looked like toys. There were some soft, squishy toys, small containers of what looked like slime or playdough. Percy recognized fidget cubes and spinners. He'd seen them at a couple of his schools, but the teachers had always confiscated them. Percy had even been to an assembly or two about the supposed dangers of fidget toys. None of the adults seemed to believe the kids who said that playing with the toys helped them to focus.

Percy had never had the chance to give one of the toys a try for himself, but he had wondered if they actually worked. Percy slowly reached into the bag and pulled out a blue toy that was extremely twisted and curled. Percy started to twist and turn the toy in many different ways. It was nice to have something to do with his hands.

"Ah, the tangle jr." Travis nodded in approval. "A classic." Travis pulled out a small container of slime for himself. He returned the bag to his pocket and opened the slime. He squished and squeezed it for a long moment.

Percy gave his tangle to a squeeze, watching as it shifted and adjusted in his grip. "Luke's alive," Percy said. He knew that Travis would be worried about his half brother. Sure enough Travis breathed a sigh of relief.

"So where is he?" Travis asked.

"Probably Mt. Olympus by now." Percy said quietly. "Hopefully he's giving back the bolt that he stole."

Travis was quiet for a moment before he sighed and gave his slime an extra firm squeeze. "Oh," Travis laughed weakly. "No wonder you look like you've been through the mill."

"Yeah," Percy straightened the tangle as much as he could before he twisted it up again. "There's just, you know, a lot."

"Yeah, I bet," Travis said. He rolled the slime up into a ball as much as he could, and then squished it between his palms. "Well, as an unofficial Hermes cabin kid, I insist that you join us for our activities today. The Apollo kids have invited us for a game of hide and seek. The more the merrier."

Percy didn't know if he wanted to do stuff with so many kids, but it was really nice to be invited. And maybe in a few hours he would be up to playing a game. If he really didn't feel like it he could just follow Travis everywhere, so he could be part of everything but not have to worry about being overwhelmed.

"Yeah, sure," Percy said. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it." Travis said. "Come on, let's grab an early breakfast. I don't know about you, but all of this emotional talk is making me hungry."

Percy, who had eaten very little besides junk food snacks and fast food all week, nodded. Getting some real food sounded nice. And if he had ever needed comfort food, he needed it now. "Yeah, I could eat." Percy held out the toy to give it back. Travis shook his head.

"Keep it." Travis said. "It's why I have these. Connor thought that it would be a good way to get energy out in ways that didn't involve sharp objects and deadly monsters."

Percy chuckled and looked at his new tangle toy. The blue and wiggly design reminded him of the ocean. Percy liked it, but he was a little nervous about it too. "I'll probably end up losing it."

"I've got an idea for that." Travis held out his hand. Percy handed it over. Travis twisted up the toy into a spiral. He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a necklace cord that resembled the kind that all the other campers wore. "We usually hand these necklaces out at the end of summer, but I don't see a problem with giving one to you now." Travis slipped the spiral onto the necklace, which he then clasped around Percy's neck. "There you go! Now you'll always have it."

Percy wrapped his fingers around the toy. He was so grateful for everything. This whole demigod business was overwhelming, but at least he knew that there were others around who knew just how he was feeling. The half-bloods supported each other, and it was something that Percy could get used to.

"Thanks," Percy said. His stomach rumbled slightly. "So, food?"

"Right," Travis nodded. He turned around and started to make his way back towards the main area of camp.

I didn't think we could get an early breakfast." Percy said. As far as he knew the camp didn't actually have a kitchen. If there was one, he'd never seen it. Percy only ever got his food at camp from the pavilion during meal times, which it was far too early for.

Travis smirked. It looked similar to Luke's smirk, but also incredibly different. Luke's was more dangerous, while Travis' was more of a mischievous yet playful look. "I've got my ways." Percy may not know Travis extremely well, but he knew that he was more lenient about the rules. Whatever Travis' ways were, they definitely involved stretching camp rules, but Percy found that he didn't mind at all.

Doing something innocent that he wasn't supposed to do just sounded really nice right now. It would be like a small way of getting back at camp and the gods for all the wrongs that had been done to him. Doing this kind of thing didn't actually do anything to improve Percy's situation, but it made him feel a little better about it. And if he could get some food out of it, well, he wasn't going to complain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always liked Connor and Travis, even though we get very little of them in the books. It's said that Percy sees them as friends, but we don't really get to see him have, like, any interacting with them, so I wanted to show some of that myself.
> 
> Also, I really wanted to give Percy a fidget toy. Maybe it's just because I'm not ADHD or ADD myself, but I have a hard time actually seeing the ADHD in any of the half bloods (besides Leo). I know that ADHD is their battle instincts and stuff, which might be why I don't see it nearly as much when they're fighting or on a quest, but when they're just at camp and not fighting for their lives I would think that the kids would be a little more fidgety and having a hard time focusing on doing one thing at a time.
> 
> But like I said, I don't have ADHD myself. It's completely possible that this is in fact a great representation of it. I don't really know. Either way, I like the thought of Percy with a fidget toy.


	12. Chapter 12

Hermes always hated their semi-annual solstice meetings. The parties afterwards were always a lot of fun and reminded Hermes of the good old days. It was nice to not worry about all the work that he had to do. Just chilling and hanging out with Apollo and Dionysus for a bit felt really nice. However, the parties didn't happen until after their long, boring, meetings.

Of course, right now Hermes wanted nothing more than to go back to the boring meetings. They weren't any fun, but at least he wasn't alone in his misery. None of them liked the meetings that Zeus and Hera insisted on, and they came up with ways to entertain each other without getting in trouble for misbehaving.

Hephaestus would fiddle with his latest trinket while Hermes leaned over his shoulder and watched the master work. Hephaestus normally didn't like other people in his space, but he tolerated it during the solstice, and Hermes took advantage of every second. He would mutter suggestions, or ask Hephaestus to upgrade his caduceus again.

Apollo would switch between tapping Ares shoulder over and over until the god of war snapped, or arm-wrestling with him. When Ares wasn't being bothered by Apollo he was trying to beat Athena in a game of rock-paper-scissors. The goddess of wisdom did her best to pay attention to the meeting, but even she wasn't immune to boredom.

Dionysus and Aphrodite would take turns braiding each other's hair. Dionysus had been so moody and depressing since he had been sent to Camp Half-Blood, so it was nice to see him let his hair down. Sometimes Aphrodite convinced Artemis to join them in their little braid train.

When the meetings were at their most boring Apollo and Dionysus from opposite sides of the room would play a game of charades with each other. Only half of the game involved guessing correctly. The other half was to not be noticed by Zeus or Hera. It was entertaining to watch the two of them flail around, and then get in trouble for it.

Demeter and Poseidon never involved themselves in their games, but they never told on them either. They just watched them in amusement, or distracted Zeus and Hera when they started to get suspicious.

This Summer Solstice meeting, everybody was tense and quiet. Ares looked so prepared to kill somebody that even Apollo didn't dare push his buttons. Zeus and Poseidon were both tense and clearly furious. Hades stood in the corner of the room, glaring at Ares. As for Hermes, he couldn't stop his feet from bouncing anxiously. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this nervous for a meeting among the gods.

"Thank you all for coming." Hera stood up and held her arms out in greeting, like she did every meeting. She completely ignored the tension in the room. "Now, the first order of business-"

"We need to talk about what to do about that thief." Zeus interrupted Hera. He was the only god who could get away with that. Hermes groaned and tapped his feet more. Hephaestus gave him a slightly awkward look and handed him the trinket he was fiddling with today. Hermes happily took it.

"Under normal circumstances, I would kill the half-blood without a second thought." Zeus said. Hermes froze and clenched the trinket in his hands. He could feel Apollo and Dionysus stares, but he didn't pay them any mind. He was too worried about Luke. It had been so long since Hermes had heard someone speak so casually about the murdering of his child.

"However," Zeus gave Hera and Hades annoyed looks. "As my wife and brother have been reminding me, this problem is bigger than me." Zeus didn't go into specifics, but he didn't have to. They all knew what was going on. As soon as Hades came to Olympus, nearly a week before the solstice, with more fury and panic than he usually showed, they all knew that this was about more than a stolen master bolt.

It hadn't been long until word of Hades' helm, Ares' involvement in all of this, and who the true guilty party was had started circulating around Olympus. Since there wasn't always a lot of things to do around Olympus, they were all big gossipers. That gossip had turned to paranoia when they caught word of Kronos. This was definitely far more than a rivalry between Zeus and his brothers.

Hermes knew he should be worried about the Titan, but at the moment his immediate concern was for his son. Luke had gotten himself in way over his head, and Hermes was terrified for him. The boy was barely more than a child. He didn't know what he was doing, and he had made himself some dangerous enemies. What absolutely killed Hermes was that he couldn't do anything to protect him.

"As Hera has been pointing out, this problem could affect all of us." Zeus said. He was clearly unhappy about it. "So we are to take a vote about the boy. We all know he's guilty, he has admitted as much."

Hermes' chest hurt as he remembered that incident. He had been surprised and terrified when Luke had come up to Olympus with the lightning bolt in tow. It had taken a lot of work for Hermes to convince his father to allow the boy to explain himself. Luke had been furious and terrified, but he had held his head high as he had explained his motivation. They all heard about Luke's nightmares, his reason for listening to the Titan in the first place, as well as why he had backed out at the last minute.

Hermes had hoped that the gods would have more compassion towards a boy who had been hurt and was just trying to prevent the same thing from happening to other demigods in the future. However, many of the gods didn't seem to think that mercy or understanding was something that Luke deserved.

Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades would surely vote against Luke, but Hermes had no idea how many of the other gods would do the same. It was terrifying and incredibly nerve racking, and now the vote was upon them.

"Do we get rid of the problem, or show mercy and risk it being an issue in the future?" Zeus asked.

Hermes seethed. "Killing Luke won't get rid of the problem."

"Hermes," Zeus gave him a warning look, but Hera put a soothing hand on his arm.

"We're all allowed to speak our minds before a vote." Hera said. "It's only fair."

Zeus scowled, but he gestured for Hermes to continue. He nodded his appreciation and gave Hera a small smile. It was rare that his step-mother took any of their sides.

"Luke isn't our enemy here." Hermes said. "He was used as a tool by Kronos. Even if we get rid of Luke, what's stopping Kronos from finding another hurting demigod and taking advantage of their pain? This whole thing might happen all over again."

"What do you propose, nephew?" Poseidon asked tensely. "We can't let this kind of behavior go unchecked." Poseidon would be a difficult one to sway. He didn't see Luke as a problem because of Kronos, he saw Luke as a problem because of Percy's involvement. Poseidon felt personally insulted, and that wouldn't go away through reasoning and pleading.

"The boy can be punished without being destroyed completely." Hermes said. "The other demigods at camp see Luke as a leader. If he's working for Kronos, it would be all too easy for him to lead others astray. He may have already convinced some kids to join his cause. If we kill him, he ould be seen as a martyr. However, if we show him mercy and convince him to fight with us rather than against us, he can convince the others as well."

"Could one boy truly be that influential?" Athena asked.

"Trust me, the brats listen to him." Dionysus said tiredly. "Not just Hermes' kids either."

"If the boy could be convinced so easily to betray the gods, would it really be wise to give him the chance to do it again?" Athena asked, and Hermes was starting to get worried. It sounded like he had lost Athena. If she thought that Luke keeping his life was too dangerous, he mind wouldn't be changed.

"It's time to vote." Zeus said. "All those who think that it's too risky to leave Kronos' follower alive, let it be known." Zeus and Poseidon both raised their hands, which Hermes had expected. Athena and Ares' votes also weren't a surprise. Hermes felt his breath get caught in his throat when Hephaestus and Aphrodite also voted against Luke.

Hermes somewhat understood it though. Hephaestus had a difficult time with personal relationships. If something was a threat or a problem, Hephaestus didn't hesitate to get rid of it, even if that something was a person. As for Aphrodite, she didn't have a horse in this race, but both her husband and her lover were in agreement for once. Of course she would side with them.

Hera calmly stood in front of them. "And those in favor of giving the boy a second chance to prove his worth to Olympus?" Hermes' hand shot up quickly, with Apollo and Artemis right behind him. Dionysus looked more reluctant, but he raised his hand as well, muttering something about not wanting to deal with the fallout at camp if something happened to Luke.

Demeter raised her hand, glaring at Hades as she did so. Her vote had nothing to do with Luke. Demeter clearly just wanted to vote the way that she thought would irritate Hades most. Hermes wasn't going to complain though. A vote in his son's favor was still a vote.

Hermes was surprised to see Hera raise her hand as well. It was rare for her to side with demigods or her step-children, especially when it went directly against her husband.

Six against six. Hermes was relieved and terrified that they had a tie. This was way too close for comfort. Usually when there was a tie in their vote, Hestia would be the one to break the tie, and her vote always went towards the side that would best keep the peace between the gods. In this particular case, Hermes had no idea which side Hestia would lean towards.

Zeus sighed in annoyance and impatience. He looked out at all of them before his eyes settled on the corner. Hermes shuddered as he realized who his father was looking at.

"Brother," Zeus gestured to Hades, who raised an eyebrow at him. "Your helm was stolen just as much as my bolt was. It's only right that you have a say in what happens to the thief."

Hermes grimaced and buried his face in his hands. Hades was surely just as personally insulted as Zeus and Poseidon were. There was no chance that the lord of the dead would decide to show mercy. This was it. Luke didn't stand a chance. It was over. Luke would be killed, and Hermes would lose his son.

Hermes was quiet for a long moment, far longer than Hermes had expected. Eventually he cleared his throat and answered, though Hermes was sure at first that he had misheard it. "Show the boy mercy."

"What?" Hermes' head shot up as he looked at his uncle in hopeful shock.

"Brother, you can't be serious." Zeus said.

Hades raised an eyebrow at them. "You said the vote was mine, and I made it. Hermes and Dionysus know the boy better than any of us. If he is half as influential among the half-bloods as they say he is, we can deplete Kronos of his forces before the war even begins."

Zeus looked absolutely furious, and Hermes just knew that he would make all of their lives a living Tartarus for the foreseeable future, but that was nothing new, and at the moment he didn't really care. His son would live. Hermes still had a chance to fix things.

Hermes didn't pay attention to the rest of their meeting. He couldn't tell anybody what any other topics of discussion had been. He was too relieved that Luke would be okay, at least for now. Hermes didn't even realize the meeting had ended until Apollo came up and punched his arm in a friendly way.

"You want to chat before the festivities begin?" Apollo smirked as he held out his hand.

Hermes grinned. He took his brother's hand. "Absolutely." The two of them had a lot of things to discuss. Before they left the room though Hermes saw his uncle watching them curiously. When Hades and Hermes made eye contact the older god nodded and sulked back into the shadows. He rarely stayed to enjoy the fun during solstice. He was probably on his way back to the underworld, and Hermes needed to speak with him beforehand.

"Give me a minute." Hermes said. "I've got something to do."

"Sure thing." Apollo grinned. He left Hermes and crossed the room to talk to Dionysus or Artemis.

Ignoring Zeus' glare, Hermes followed where Hades had disappeared. He had expected to have to search for a while to find him, but Hades was standing in the large, empty corridor, looking like he was waiting for someone.

"Uncle," Hermes nodded his head in a gesture that resembled a small bow. Hades returned the gesture. He wasn't the most respectful of gods, which was understandable, because Hades was rarely shown respect himself. Hermes thought that he was one of the few gods that Hades regularly respected, because of his work in the underworld.

"Nephew," Hades said coldly, but his eyes showed a rare gentleness.

"Thank you for showing mercy towards my son." Hermes said.

"I thought I owed him as much." Hades said. "Am I correct in thinking he's May's child?"

Hermes swallowed thickly as he nodded. "You...you know May?"

"I don't take my curses lightly." Hades said. "If I'm going to curse anything or anybody, I am going to take responsibility for it. The least I can do is acknowledge the people that have been hurt by my actions."

Hermes gave him a shaky smile. "That's why you've always been my favorite uncle."

"Well, the alternative is Poseidon, so that's not a very high bar to pass." Hades said dryly. Hermes chuckled. He had really grown to appreciate his uncle's sense of humor.

"I admit, I had another, more selfish reason for showing the boy mercy." Hades said. "Does the boy truly care about half-bloods, regardless of their parentage?"

"They're one of the few things he does care about." Hermes said. He heard every single one of his children's prayers and pleas. The past two years Luke's prayers had been getting more and more resentful. They were more of a time for him to rant than anything else. The few times Luke had given a sincere prayer, it had always been for the sake of one of the other demigods. ' _Let her be claimed'_. ' _Please help him feel safe here'_. And, most frequently, ' _if you're the god of travellers, protect all the demigods who are left to fend for themselves'_.

Hades hummed, looking thoughtful. "So he will help and protect any demigod who needs him, regardless of who they are and what their parents have done?"

"He doesn't think that children should suffer for the crimes of their parents." Hermes said. "If Luke hated the children of the gods he hated, he would despise his own siblings, and he definitely doesn't."

Hades relaxed ever so slightly. "I hope you're right." Hades gave him another nod. "I'll see you later, nephew."

Hermes gave him a small wave. "Say hi to Charon for me." Hermes hadn't been by the underworld lately. Perhaps it was time he helped guide the souls to the underworld again.

Hades didn't answer him, he just went on his way again, which was just like him. Hermes took a deep breath, trying to ease the tension he had been feeling since Luke had shown up here. His son had been imprisoned and put into a deep sleep until they gathered for the solstice. They couldn't free him yet, as they still had to figure out the details of what they would be doing with him, but Hermes wasn't as terrified as he had been earlier that day.

Hermes couldn't fully relax yet. They were still far from being out of the woods, and Hermes wasn't entirely sure what direction they were headed now. Luke had been at a crossroads. Hermes had been so worried about what was at the end of one path that he barely gave the other path a serious thought. Hermes doubted he could be given all the answers, as those went against the rules of the universe, but just a hint would make him feel much better.

Because Apollo's companions of choice right now were Artemis and Dionysus, who both preferred the outdoors, Hermes didn't have to search many places to find them. He found his half siblings on the second balcony he checked, and the sight made him raise his eyebrows. Apollo was lounging on a chair, looking like the epitome of relaxed.

Artemis was standing right behind Apollo, running her fingers through his hair. Hermes might believe that Apollo was asleep if it weren't for the fact that he was brushing his hands through Dionysus' hair. The god of wine was kneeling on the ground, resting his head against Apollo's thigh. Dionysus looked more relaxed and at peace than Hermes had seen from him since he had been sent to the camp.

"You all look like you're having fun." Hermes said.

Artemis sighed in annoyance, though there was a fond look in her eyes. "This was the only way to shut them up."

"You love it and you know it." Apollo said drowsily. Artemis smiled and leaned over to press a kiss to Apollo's temple.

"I love that you're quiet for once." Artemis smirked. Apollo took one of his hands away from Dionysus' head to hit his sister's arm. Dionysus shifted and whined until Apollo returned his hand to its previous position.

"You're needy today." Apollo muttered.

"You try being a babysitter all day every day." Dionysus said sleepily. "I've been spending so much time taking care of the brats, I deserve a little me time."

"Oh, absolutely." Apollo massaged Dionysus' head, making the younger god groan in appreciation and practically snuggle against Apollo's leg. It was intimate and almost adorable. Hermes wanted to be a part of that, but that had to wait for now. He needed to think about Luke right now. He could join the fun later.

"Apollo, can we talk?" Hermes asked. Dionysus groaned and clung to Apollo's leg possessively.

"No." Dionysus whined. "He's mine right now. You can't have him." Hermes barely held back a chuckle. The half-blood children of theirs would have a field day if they saw their camp director like this.

"Come on, 'nysus," Apollo said. "There's plenty of me to go around. You can share, can't you?"

Dionysus grumbled, but reluctantly nodded. "Fine."

"That's a good boy." Apollo said. Dionysus, who didn't normally get flustered so easily, blushed and buried his face in Apollo's leg to try to hide it. Apollo chuckled and lifted his gaze to look at Hermes. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"The path." Hermes said. "Fate."

"Ah, yes." Apollo grimaced slightly. "You know I can't explain everything."

"I wouldn't ask you to." Hermes said. He knew how prophecy worked, as he'd listened to Apollo explain it over and over again. Prophecies were rarely clear. Most of the time it was trying to avoid them that led to them being fulfilled in the first place. However, Apollo had bent the rules a little bit for Hermes when he'd been devastated by May's torment. She had been hurting so much by what she had seen, and Hermes had been desperate to know what had bothered her so much.

Apollo had been kind enough to explain that Luke was on a path that had a fork in the road. May had seen the end of one path, which led to a destination that terrified and terribly hurt Hermes. But now that wasn't where Luke was headed. The future was a complete mystery, which was exciting, but also horrifying.

"I would appreciate anything you can tell me." Hermes said quietly, pleading. He needed to know if Luke would be okay.

Apollo hummed to himself. He was quiet for a very long moment before he smirked and gave Hermes a mischievous look. "His new path won't be easy, but I'll tell you this, I'm definitely looking forward to it." Hermes relaxed. Apollo rarely enjoyed the suffering of demigods, let alone when those demigods were one of his or Hermes' kids. If Apollo was looking forward to it, that had to be a good sign.

"Anything else?" Hermes asked.

"He'll complete the circle." Apollo said. That smirk meant that what he had said was something very important, but Hermes didn't understand what it could mean.

"You're infuriating." Hermes said.

"You love me." Apollo said. He was so cocky, and what made it worse was that he was absolutely right.

"Yes, I do, and I hate it." Hermes said. He approached Apollo's chair and nudged him to make him scoot over. Hermes climbed into the chair next to him and curled up against Apollo's side. The other god was so warm, like the best furnace in the world. "I think I aged a thousand years these past few days."

"Father has that effect on people." Apollo said. Dionysus hummed in agreement.

"He's just scared." Artemis said.

"So that's an okay excuse for him, but not for Luke?" Hermes frowned.

"Father's a coward who gets petty when people don't do exactly what he wants." Dionysus yawned.

"You say that like none of us are the exact same way." Apollo said. Artemis chuckled and Hermes laughed as he leaned his head against Apollo's shoulder.

"Gods, we're an absolute mess." Hermes said. At times like this he felt bad for all the demigod children they had. The gods were some of the most immature people that Hermes knew. They didn't know how to deal with their own issues. The demigods were just unlucky results of their actions. They didn't deserve to deal with all of this. Giving the kids a safe place to go and otherwise leaving them alone was the best thing the gods could do for their half-blood children, but it wasn't nearly enough.

Hermes kids resented him for being absent, but he'd been involved in his kids lives before, and they had all despised it. This was a lose-lose situation. Hermes was doing the best he could, and he knew many of the gods were doing the same, but it wasn't enough. It was never enough.

Hermes was going to try to find a way to help Luke, as well as the rest of his kids, but that could wait until later. Hermes had had a very exhausting couple of days, and like Dionysus he needed just a little break. That was why Apollo had always been one of his favorite brothers. He could be really irresponsible sometimes, but he definitely knew how to get people to relax, and that was just what Hermes needed.

He would worry about his kids again after the solstice was over. He had done what he could for his son, he would do more later, but right now was for celebrating what he had accomplished up to this point. Luke wasn't dead, he wasn't doing Kronos' bidding right this second. If that didn't deserve just a little break, Hermes didn't know what did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like this story really needed something to show Hermes' thoughts about all of this. He obviously cares about Luke, and I tried really hard to show that. I also thought long and hard about which of the gods would be voting in which way. Hera was actually the hardest one to settle on, because I could just as easily see her going either way.
> 
> This chapter was so much fun to write. I love writing the gods weird relationships with each other. The gods dealing with their boredom during the meetings was unexpected, but enjoyable. I never knew I needed a braid train with Artemis, Dionysus, and Aphrodite, or Ares and Athena settling their differences with rock-paper-scissors.
> 
> And I absolutely had to have a cuddle/hair stroking pile between my four favorite gods. It just feels so natural. Greek mythology is full of intimate relationships between the gods, and the Percy Jackson series doesn't really show that...kinda at all. Now, I know that the series is about the demigods, and that's great and all, but is it so much to ask that we can at least tell that the gods have some fun with each other?


	13. Chapter 13

Luke came back to awareness very suddenly. The first thing he noticed was that he felt very well rested, like he'd been asleep for three days straight and hadn't been plagued by a single nightmare or dream. It was nice. He didn't have the chance to really appreciate it, because the second thing that Luke noticed snatched his peace from him in an instant.

"Father." Luke seethed. His dad, who had a hand reached out towards him, gave him a sad, gentle smile as he pulled back.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see that hateful glare." Hermes said, which just made Luke feel angrier. He didn't want to be patronized. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I want to punch you in the face." Luke said. To his fury his dad just chuckled.

"So, back to normal." Hermes said. "That's a relief."

"What do you want?" Luke asked.

"Just to talk." Hermes said.

"You've never been interested in talking before." Luke said. "What's so different now?"

Hermes sighed. "It's complicated, and I know you won't really listen to anything that I have to say to you."

"So you're not even going to try?" Luke said, annoyed. He didn't know what he wanted from his dad. He didn't want to listen to any of his excuses, but it was frustrating that he didn't even want to try.

"I would love nothing more than to try." Hermes said. "But father doesn't have a lot of patience. We don't have a lot of time before you and Dionysus will have to go back to camp."

"Back to camp?" Luke frowned. That was the last thing he had expected. "I thought...honestly, I thought I wasn't going to be walking away from this." Luke had come to Mt. Olympus knowing full well that he probably wouldn't be leaving. It hadn't been easy to essentially walk to his death, but better him than Percy.

"I was terrified of the same thing." Hermes said breathlessly. "The fates seem to have something else in mind for you. The gods have voted, and though it was close, we've decided that your punishment won't be death."

Luke narrowed his eyes cautiously. "What will my punishment be then?"

"That's still being discussed." Hermes said. He looked almost embarrassed. "All that's been agreed on is that you will no longer be a camper at camp half-blood."

It took Luke a long minute to process his dad's words. "I'm being kicked out?" That felt both really tame and extremely harsh. Camp was the only home that Luke really knew. He'd been thinking of moving on with his life lately, but he hadn't gotten around to properly planning it. He didn't have anywhere to go.

"I wouldn't call it kicked out." Hermes said. "You're still allowed at camp, but as a visitor."

Luke took a deep breath. It was intimidating, but it wasn't as bad as it first seemed. This was doable. Luke didn't like that he didn't know why the gods weren't completely tearing him apart, as that was much more like the gods that he was familiar with, but he still had his life, so he wasn't going to complain, at least not right now.

Hermes was quiet for a moment. "If you need help finding a place to stay-"

"I'll figure it out on my own." Luke said heatedly. He had never needed his dad's help before, he didn't need it now. Hermes' expression fell, like he was disappointed that Luke didn't want his help, but he wasn't going to change his mind. He wasn't going to let his dad make him feel guilty for this.

"Alright." Hermes said reluctantly. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them his expression was steeled with determination. "Regardless of what you think, Luke, I haven't given up on you, and I never will. I know you don't recognize what I've done for you, and I don't need you to. I'm not going to stop though."

"Whatever helps you to sleep better at night." Luke muttered bitterly. "Can I go now?"

Hermes sighed. "Yes, you can go now." He was quiet for a moment, but Luke knew it wouldn't last. Hermes looked like he badly wanted to say something. Sure enough a moment later he spoke again. "Hades may come by to call in a favor. You're not obligated to do anything, but I thought you might appreciate knowing what's coming."

"Why would I owe him anything?" Luke frowned. Hades was one of his least favorite gods. Luke didn't want to do anything for him.

"He voted to show you mercy." Hermes said. "And you _did_ steal from him."

"I'll think about it." Luke scowled. He walked past his father, towards the door. He didn't know where exactly in Olympus here was, but he wanted to get away from his dad. As Luke approached the door it was thrown open by a very irritated looking Dionysus.

"Good, you're up." Dionysus said impatiently. "Come on, it's time to get going."

"You don't see me complaining." Luke said. He wasn't the least bit intimidated by the god of wine.

Dionysus looked over his shoulder towards Hermes, his expression softening slightly. "I'll see you later, brother."

"See you." Hermes said sadly. Dionysus grimaced and led Luke down the halls.

"You've caused a lot of trouble, kid." Dionysus said, and Luke found himself relaxing slightly. This was what he was used to. Dionysus' slight annoyance with everything that Luke did. It was incredibly familiar.

"Someone's gotta give the gods a run for their money." Luke said.

"If you ask me, the gods do that fairly well on their own." Dionysus said dryly. Luke couldn't help but laugh. It was horrible just how much the gods were in conflict with each other, but it was a slight comfort that at least some of the gods recognized how much of a disaster they were.

They didn't pass any other gods as they went, which was odd, but more than a bit of a relief. Olympus was far more quiet than Luke was used to, and they were left completely undisturbed as they went to the elevator exit.

"I've been told to not leave you unsupervised while you're at camp." Dionysus said boredly. "You can stay until you find somewhere else to go, but if you haven't found anywhere by the end of summer, you're out. Fair enough?"

"Considering it's more than I was expecting, yeah, I think it's fair." Luke said. They fell into silence after that. They found Argus and his van waiting for them. Dionysus grumpily got into the front seat. Luke barely held back his smirk of amusement. The thought of Dionysus riding in the camp van was just hilarious. He was a little surprised that Dionysus wasn't complaining up a storm about it, especially since Luke was surely the only reason why he wasn't just teleporting back to camp like he normally would.

When they got to Half-Blood Hill, Luke stared at Thalia's tree sadly, like he always did when he saw it. She didn't deserve any of the crap that she'd had to deal with. None of the half bloods did.

When they stepped past the camp borders he shuddered slightly. He felt like he was an intruder here. It seemed they had already put the changes in place that would keep him from really belonging here.

Luke followed Dionysus towards where some of the campers were training. It wasn't hard to find his fellow Hermes cabin kids. They were running around a haphazardly pieced together obstacle course. Luke had no doubt that it was Travis and Connor's idea. They were always trying to make camp feel more like a normal, mortal summer camp.

"What's up, fellow freaks?" Luke exclaimed loudly. Connor, who had been trying to go through the obstacle course while carrying the youngest, smallest kid on his back, stumbled and fell. Connor quickly turned himself to keep the other kid from getting hurt. His reflexes served him well.

"Luke," Chris looked at him in shock and caution. "You're back."

"I'm back." Luke nodded.

"In one piece?" Connor tilted his head in confusion, like the thought that Luke was alive was a surprise.

"Don't sound so disappointed." Luke said.

"Are you going to stay in one piece?" Percy, who Luke hadn't even noticed was there with them, gave him a suspicious look. It was hard to read how he was thinking.

"At least for now." Luke said. Percy's closed off expression faltered and he looked really upset. The kid ran up to Luke and punched him harshly in the gut. It wasn't enough to knock the air out of him, but it was more than enough to hurt. Luke hunched over ever so slightly, but he was forced to stop when Percy wrapped his arms around him and buried his face in his chest. Percy hugging him was the last thing that Luke expected that day, and it caught him off guard.

"I'm still mad at you." Percy said. "So, so mad, but I'm glad you weren't destroyed."

"I told you he'd be fine." Travis came up behind Percy and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's better than he deserves, but he's fine." Travis glared at Luke and he knew that his brother knew what had happened. Percy must have explained it to him, and Travis wasn't impressed. "You've got a lot of explaining to do."

"I know." Luke said. He needed to talk to Selena and Chris, as well as the other Hermes cabin kids that he had managed to convince to join Kronos. They deserved to know why he had changed the plan. He would also need to talk properly to Travis and Connor. It was one thing to ask them to be in charge for a few weeks while he was on a quest, and another to just thrust the cabin leader position on the two of them. The least Luke could do was tell them why.

He knew they would be fine though. Travis and Connor were too mischievous for their own good and a major headache, but they genuinely cared about all the campers, whether they belonged in the Hermes cabin or not. There was nobody else that Luke trusted more to watch over the campers, which was why he'd never even tried to recruit them to Kronos' cause. Camp could be frustrating sometimes in their honoring of the gods, but that didn't mean that the half bloods deserved to be left alone to fend completely for themselves.

Dionysus watched them for a bit before he left, probably to talk to Chiron about stuff. Luke thought that Dionysus wouldn't be leaving him unsupervised while he was here, but he wasn't about to remind him of it. Luke didn't want to be babysat more than the next person.

Even though he was back among his siblings, Luke felt like everything was different. Now instead of him keeping an eye on everybody else, Travis watched out for them. Connor dedicated all his time to keeping Luke from getting too close to the others. Apparently Luke hadn't been left unsupervised after all. Instead, his younger siblings had taken it upon themselves to treat him like an undisciplined trouble maker. It was frustrating, and completely humiliating.

Luke expected Chiron to come and scold him sooner rather than later, so he was surprised, but not disappointed, when evening fell and he didn't hear a word about it. Even at dinner Chiron seemed to be pretending to not notice that Luke was there at all. Luke knew this wouldn't last very long, but he was going to enjoy it while it did.

During dinner instead of sitting at the table Travis took his plate of food and walked away from the pavilion, with Percy and Grover right behind him. They were making their way towards the beach. To Luke's shock, neither Chiron nor Dionysus said anything about it. Campers were technically allowed to eat wherever they wanted at camp, just so long as they respected the gods and cleaned up after themselves, but Chiron didn't like it when campers did anything without him knowing about it.

"Where are they off to?" Luke asked.

Connor, who was sitting right next to him, gave him a curious look, like he was trying to figure out his motivation for asking such a simple question. Eventually Connor seemed to decide that Luke's motivation was innocent enough, because his suspicious gaze softened slightly.

"Probably to the beach." Connor said. "Travis doesn't want Percy to be alone. He says that Percy's an honorary member of our cabin, but the rules say that we can't eat at other people's tables, so they go to the beach instead."

Luke chuckled. Connor and Travis had always been really good at finding the loopholes in the rules that let them get away with things. "It's nice that you guys are keeping an eye on Percy."

"Someone has to." Connor said quietly, which was concerning. It wasn't like him to ever be quiet about anything. Something was wrong.

After making sure that nobody else was paying attention to them, Luke leaned closer to Connor. "What's going on?"

Connor tapped his fingers on the table. He stared out towards where Travis and Percy had walked off. "Travis is really mad at you."

"Yeah, I got that." Luke said. He was more than a little surprised that the Stolls hadn't pulled a prank on him yet. Nobody could get away with upsetting both of the brothers without paying for it one way or another. There was only one reason that Luke could think of as to why they hadn't played a prank on him yet, and that was if they weren't in agreement with their displeasure. "What about you?"

Connor scowled. "What about me?"

"Are you mad at me too?" Luke asked.

"...A bit." Connor said. "I'm more frustrated with myself."

"Yourself?" Luke frowned. "Why? You haven't done anything."

"Exactly." Connor narrowed his eyes and started spinning his fork in his hands. "We haven't done anything for, what was it, two years?"

Luke felt a pit in his stomach as he felt both confused and extremely concerned. "Please don't tell me you've been blaming yourself for this?" Connor was silent, and Luke's worry overcame his confusion. "Connor!"

"What?" His younger brother snapped. "Percy said you've been having nightmares almost every night for two years, and we never noticed. We were sleeping in the same room, and none of us noticed." Connor scoffed and tried to stab his peanut M&Ms with his fork. "We didn't even notice when you stole the bolt last winter."

"I got thieving skills from dad too." Luke said. "I'm an above average thief, and was pretty good at hiding it."

"But a thief should be able to recognize the signs of a thief." Connor said, raising his voice slightly. "Especially since you were practically glued to mine and Travis' side all while we were at Olympus, because you didn't trust us to not cause any trouble while we were there. We were right there. We had always been right there, and we didn't notice _anything_."

"Whoa, hey, Con-man, that's enough of that." Luke hit Connor over the back of the head. And, just to be sure that Connor got the message, Luke picked up one of his M&Ms and flicked it at his head. "It's not your job to keep me from making what you think are stupid decisions, alright?"

"You said that family's supposed to look out for each other." Connor said.

"There's looking out for each other, and there's throwing yourself a pity party because something happened that you couldn't possibly have control over." Luke said. "I'm going to keep on saying this until it gets through your thick skull. Whether you could have noticed what I was up to or not, nothing that I've done or may theoretically do in the future is your fault."

Connor didn't seem to completely believe him. There was only one person who would be able to get through to him. "Have you talked to Travis about this?" Luke asked. Connor shook his head.

"He has enough on his mind." Connor said.

"Talk to him," Luke said. "Or I will." He wasn't afraid of following through with the threat either. He didn't want to leave this unaddressed.

"Fine," Connor agreed reluctantly.

The rest of the evening was really uneventful. There was a bit of a close call at the campfire, when Chiron told everybody that the master bolt had successfully been returned to the gods. Luke was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Chiron to tell them all who the true thief was, but it never happened. Most of the campers were left completely in the dark.

After the campfire Luke and his siblings, as well as the unclaimed, all returned to the Hermes cabin. It wasn't quite time for lights out yet, but they always spent the downtime before bed just hanging out and relaxing. Sometimes it even took until lights out for them to agree on what the sleeping arrangements for the night would be.

Luke lounged on his bed and watched the chaos unfold in front of him. Connor and Travis were fairly decent at organizing things. Between the two of them they could cover twice as much ground as Luke could on his own. Thanks to their strategy of divide and conquer, they soon had everything figured out. Somehow, Connor and Travis had been able to make it so that everybody was able to sleep on a bed, even if some people had to share.

Luke couldn't remember the last time they hadn't had someone sleep on the floor. It wasn't a bad strategy. Luke was just impressed that Connor and Travis had been able to pull it off.

They all chatted and argued for a bit, like their cabin always did when they had down time. However, when it was time for lights out, everybody went silent and immediately curled up to go to bed. Luke had never seen this happen before in all his years at camp. The Hermes cabin was always noisy long after lights out. How could Travis and Connor have managed such a thing in just two weeks?

While everybody else went to sleep, Luke laid wide awake on his bed. He'd been resting for a long time on Olympus. More sleep was the last thing he needed. Besides, he wasn't eager to have another nightmare.

An hour passed and Luke was sure he was the only one awake, but then he heard some rustling and footsteps. Luke sat up to see who was up and about, and even with the darkness of the night he was able to make out who it was.

"Chris?" Luke whispered. "What are you doing up?"

"We've got to talk." Chris said quietly. "Some stuff has happened since you've been gone."

"What?" Luke asked. Chris sounded worried, and he wasn't usually the kind of person who was easily flustered. "What's wrong?"

"Well," Chris looked around anxiously before he leaned closer to Luke. "Someone new has joined the cause." It wasn't uncommon for new half-bloods or monsters to join Kronos' army. They had no recruits joining them almost every day. Luke didn't know what was so note-worthy about this, unless the half-blood was someone from camp.

"Who?" Luke asked.

Chris sighed. "The Chase girl."

Luke felt like his heart stopped. "Annabeth?" Hypothetically Luke loved the thought of Annabeth joining the cause. She could contribute a lot to their work, but there was a reason why Luke had never directly mentioned it to her. "I thought I told you guys to not recruit from the younger kids." He wanted the recruits to be sincerely dedicated to the cause. Kids who weren't even teenagers yet couldn't possibly make an educated choice. Especially not a kid who had been completely oblivious just two weeks ago.

"This isn't on us." Chris said defensively. "She joined herself. I think she's been having dreams."

Luke swore and swung his legs off the bed. He stood up and started making his way towards the door, but Chris grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Where are you going?"

"I've gotta talk to her." Luke said. He knew how Kronos' nightmares could scramble with someone's head. That was the last thing he wanted for any other half-blood, but especially Annabeth.

"She's not here, boss." Chris pulled him back onto the bed. "She ran off from camp just after you guys left on your quest. None of us have seen her. I just know she's joined the cause because I saw her in a dream, and so did Selena.

Luke groaned and rubbed his forehead. This was the exact kind of thing that he'd been trying to avoid. So much was getting out of his control, and he didn't know what to do about it. He could just leave camp now, because Dionysus would surely stop him in his tracks. He couldn't ask Chris or any of the others to leave until the end of summer, because it would attract too much attention and someone might guess that they were traitors to the camp.

They were trying to find a time for them all to leave camp and be Kronos' soldiers more permanently, but they were still figuring out the details. It wouldn't be fair to ask someone to be renounced by camp when they didn't have somewhere else to go.

"We'll talk about this all later." Luke said. "But not here, and not now. You know how I feel about talking about this stuff in the cabin."

"I know," Chris said. "I just thought you might want to know about Annabeth."

"I appreciate it." Luke said, and he did. "Get some sleep, Chris. It's late."

Chris sighed, but he obeyed. Luke watched as his brother made his way back to his bed. He tossed and turned a bit on the mattress as he tried to get comfortable, but eventually Chris settled and everything was quiet in the cabin again, leaving Luke alone to his thoughts.

Luke hadn't meant to be getting any sleep that night, but half an hour later he found himself starting to doze off. He was just about to fall asleep when he heard more rustling from the bed next to him.

"So, you've got Chris and Selena involved in your master plan." Travis' voice cut through the darkness, making Luke jump.

"Jesus, Travis," Luke turned to see Travis watching him. "How long have you been up?"

"I never went to sleep." Travis said. "You really think I'm going to be taking my eyes off of you? No way."

Luke sighed in irritation, both with Travis and with himself for not noticing that his brother was still awake. "Did you really think I was the only half-blood that hated our parents."

"I don't know." Travis admitted. "I never really thought about it." He was quiet for a moment. "How many other people have you dragged into this?"

"That's not any of your business." Luke said. He wasn't about to tell on his fellow half-bloods. Who they served was their business and theirs alone.

"How is it not my business if my friends and siblings are working for a titan that wants to destroy the world as we know it?" Travis asked.

"The world as we know it isn't worth preserving." Luke said bitterly. Travis scoffed

"Things suck, I get it." Travis said. "But things are pretty cool too. You just need to know how to find it."

"If you say so." Luke said. He wasn't in the mood for debating with his brother about this right now. Luke wanted to lighten things up, to avoid an argument. "How did you and Connor get everybody to actually follow the rules of lights out?"

"Oh," Luke could hear the proud, somewhat mischievous grin in his tone. "That was easy. We just said that whoever doesn't obey the rules will pay for it in the morning. It took a few days of following through with the threat, but they eventually got the idea."

Luke chuckled. "I should have known." It fit Travis and Connor's way of working. "You two are pretty good at this."

"It helps that there are two of us." Travis said. "There are twice as much of us doing the work."

"And you don't have to deal with the two most obnoxious kids." Luke said. Travis made an insulted noise and he threw his pillow at Luke, who tried to stifle his laugh. He didn't want to wake up their other siblings.

"You guys are doing great taking care of everyone else." Luke said, and he meant it. "But you can't forget to take care of yourselves either. I talked to Connor earlier and, man, it's not good."

"Connor?" Travis sat up, concern and slight anxiety in his tone. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's gotten it into his head that it's somehow his fault that I've gotten myself involved with this stuff." Luke said. Travis groaned and leaned back. He looked at Connor, who was sound asleep and curled up right next to him. Travis adjusted the blanket for his brother, pulling it up over his shoulders.

"I'll talk to him." Travis said quietly. "He doesn't deserve that."

"And don't you dare go blaming yourself for not noticing how Connor was feeling." Luke said. "Seriously, don't."

Travis gave a weak, somewhat watery laugh. "I'll try."

Luke was quiet for a moment. "Are you seriously going to stay up all night to keep an eye on me?"

"I'll sneak in a nap tomorrow." Travis said. "I've missed having you around, but I don't trust you."

"That's fair." Luke sighed. "I'll try not to let you guys down again." He wasn't going to be making them any empty promises though. Luke knew from personal experience that sometimes it hurt more to be hopeful and then be let down than to just be disappointed from the start. If keeping a close eye on him was what Travis and Connor needed, Luke could cooperate with them for a bit, at least until he left camp.

Luke laid back in his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He still wasn't eager to sleep, but he didn't exactly want to stay up all night while Travis sat there in silence as well. They were both awake and neither of them were planning on sleeping, so they might as well do something about it.

"What else have you and Connor been changing up while I've been gone?" Luke asked.

Travis turned to look at him. "Not feeling up to sleeping?"

"Not feeling like being tortured by nightmares." Luke said. He was going to put this off for as long as he could.

"Hmm," Travis adjusted his position. "We've been hanging out with the Apollo kids a lot. A new camper arrived shortly after you left. Will's barely nine years old, and he was just starting to get used to us when he was claimed. He didn't want to leave the cabin of awesome, not even to be a part of the second best cabin at camp. So we've been doing activities together to help him to adjust."

Luke hummed and nodded. It wasn't unheard of for the Hermes cabin to do this kind of thing. Travis soon started to go into specifics, and Luke was more than happy to listen to his brother talk. It made things feel more familiar and comfortable than it had been in a long time. Luke knew that this contentment couldn't last, but he was going to enjoy it while he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on having even more Travis and Connor, but I love them, I really do. Besides, they're some of the only Hermes cabin kids who didn't join Kronos' side, and they didn't even seem to know what Luke was up to, which I thought was kinda weird.
> 
> The fact that they're counselors after Luke leaves shows that they have seniority, so they've been at camp for awhile. They're actually Hermes kids instead of just squatting, so one would think that they would be closer to Luke, as they're brothers. And Travis and Connor are among the few who stay at camp year-round, which should mean that they would be even closer to Luke, and yet we never see any of that.
> 
> Also, I wanted to portray the cabins as actually being a family. Luke, Travis, Connor, Chris, they're all brothers, but we don't really see that in the books. We don't get to see any of the people who share cabins with others have a familial bond with their siblings, which is just a bit disappointing.


	14. Chapter 14

Over the next month Luke's life became more and more uncomfortable, but also more predictable. Nearly every day was the same. Every night he would stay awake with Travis for as long as he could, partially to keep his brother company, but mostly just because he didn't want to have a nightmare. Sooner or later he was unable to stay awake anymore and fell into a restless sleep.

Travis was decent enough to wake Luke up whenever he was getting visibly distressed from his dreams. Luke appreciated the help, but as a result by the time morning came he only got a total of a few hours of sleep. It was manageable, but not very fun.

Connor would wake him up just before they all went off to breakfast. Luke was so exhausted that he was actually really glad that Connor and Travis handled the other Hermes cabin kids, because he was too tired to even think of supervising them.

During the day Luke had to deal with Dionysus keeping a constant eye on him, and resenting Luke for it. When he asked Dionysus why he insisted on watching him when it was clearly making him miserable, the god just said that he was doing a favor for an old friend. This just annoyed Luke even more, because he knew that this old friend was his father. It was infuriating.

While Dionysus was always around, Luke hadn't seen hide nor hair of Chiron. The first few days, Luke thought that Chiron was just busy. It happened to the best of them. A week and a half in, Luke knew that Chiron was avoiding him on purpose, but he didn't let it bother him. The old satyr probably just needed time. A month into this mess though Luke couldn't deny that Chiron was more than just a little upset.

While Travis and Connor wouldn't let him take charge of the other Hermes cabin kids, and Travis wouldn't let him be alone with Chris or Selena, Luke was able to spend plenty of time with Percy. The kid was spending as much time as he possibly could with the Hermes cabin, and though Luke didn't understand why, Percy constantly wanted his attention and company. Percy was moody and often didn't want to talk to Luke at all. He mostly just wanted to spar with him, and Luke was more than happy to give that to him.

Luke's favorite day of the week quickly became Thursday. That was the one day of the week that he had the chance to leave camp borders and get just a little bit of freedom. Chiron normally didn't let the demigods leave camp at all in the middle of summer, but kids that stayed at camp year round were usually able to be an exception to the camp rules.

Luke was looking for a job and an apartment, and those were things that were difficult to do when not in person. He didn't leave by himself. He was always accompanied by Travis, who used Thursday as his study day.

Travis had always wanted to live a relatively normal life. Being a hero had never interested him, and he'd always been envious of all the kids who got to go home after summer and go to school. Luke and Chiron had been able to convince Travis to continue training until he was confident in his skills to defend himself from monster attacks before trying to go to school.

Travis was barely sixteen, but he was already thinking about college. He was a little too young to apply to colleges, but he had started studying to take the ACT and GED so he could be ready for college when he was able to go.

Luke and Connor had shared a laugh at Travis' initiative, but they had both realized that getting an early start was probably the best method. Right now Travis could only study on Thursdays and late at night when everybody else was asleep. And even though this was something that Travis really wanted, he had a very hard time focusing on the textbooks for long enough to get any work done.

Travis had so much working against him. He'd never gone to public school, and Camp Half-blood didn't provide too many opportunities for mortal education. He was smart, but when it came to mortal school teachings, he was more than a few years behind. Especially in science, where so many topics went directly against the gods and the world that they knew.

Like many half-bloods, Travis had a difficult time not just reading in general, thanks to his dyslexia, but focusing was also a struggle for him. Because he'd never gone to school and hadn't had to learn strategies to overcome these struggles that had never really been an issue for him, Travis had a hard time adjusting to this new habit of studying.

Annabeth used to be the one to accompany Travis, since she'd long since perfected the art of studying. She had all kinds of tips for him, and she was quick to get him back on task when his thoughts started to stray.

Since Annabeth was gone and Luke had a kind of studying that he had to do himself, he accompanied Travis every Thursday. They would go to the library for a few minutes, just long enough for Travis to pick up any new books he might need and for Luke to get on the computer to quickly look for job postings or available apartments nearby. He would print off anything that looked even remotely interesting, and he and Travis would leave the library before trouble could find them there.

They would go to a nearby coffee shop, order something with enough sugar and caffeine to last them all week, and sit down to start their work. It was slow and frustrating, but they both gradually started to make progress. Travis took notes, using different color pens depending on how much he understood and was interested in something. It helped him to know better what he needed to study more on. Every few minutes Travis would laugh and shove his textbook towards Luke to show him something that he thought was particularly funny.

As for Luke, his best friends became sticky notes and highlighters. He underlined the jobs that he actually qualified for, circled the apartments to look into, and wrote down a dozen different phone numbers. He would make the phone calls after getting back to camp, where they had emergency phones, and barriers that could protect from the monsters that would be drawn to them.

Luke wasn't making very much progress. Nobody wanted to hire him when he didn't actually have an address or phone number. No landlord wanted to let him move in when he didn't yet have a solid source of income. After a month, Luke finally struck gold, at least on the apartment side. A landlord had not only said that she wanted to meet with him, but she agreed to come to the coffee shop to talk. When she heard that Luke was accompanying his younger brother, who was studying so he could get a proper education, she was more than happy to work around his schedule. She seemed to feel pity for two teenagers who were doing their best with what few resources they had.

Luke had been nervous about talking to the landlord, Ms. Harris. He had been sure that it wouldn't go anywhere, so he was surprised when, an hour later, Ms. Harris offered him not only an apartment, but also a small job.

Once Luke assured Ms. Harris that he had a sponsor of sorts who would be willing to pay for his first few months of rent, as Camp Half-Blood had funds set aside for just this kind of thing, until he found his footing, she was more than happy to give him what she called a trial lease. He had six months to find a job and prove that he could be a responsible tenant, and then they would go from there.

As for the small job, Ms. Harris had two nieces that she frequently looked after while their dad worked, and she would appreciate another person who could help keep an eye on them when she was busy. Ms. Harris also said that there were a few other tenants who needed babysitting help.

It was far from a steady job, especially with how little he'd be able to be paid, but it was more than nothing. Besides, if it put him in his landlord's good graces, he was willing to do some babysitting.

Travis, who was supposed to be studying, had watched Luke and Ms. Harris' conversation intently. When Luke was told that he now had an apartment of his own Travis had looked even more excited than Luke was. After Ms. Harris left, with plans to meet up again the next Thursday to show Luke the apartment and finalize things, Travis had insisted that they get one of the coffee shop's pastries to celebrate.

"Are you that eager to get rid of me?" Luke chuckled.

"Shut up," Travis shoved his shoulder. "You've been looking for a place all month. I'm allowed to be excited for you."

"Yeah, and I appreciate it," Luke said. He picked up one of Travis' notebooks and hit him over the head with it. "Now enough thinking about me. You've got yourself to worry about."

"You can't seriously expect me to get anywhere now," Travis said. "All I can think about is that my big brother got himself an apartment."

Luke knew that he should probably push his brother to at least try, but he knew that it wouldn't do any good. Travis struggled to focus on his studying under the best of circumstances. Trying to make him focus now would just end up frustrating both of them.

Luke would just have to help Travis study a little more tonight when there were no distractions and he'd had a few hours to calm down from all the excitement of the day.

They returned to camp earlier than they normally did on Thursdays. The Hermes cabin were at the lake. Some of the kids were practicing building a raft, just in case it was a skill they needed. Some of them were swimming in the strangely rough waters, improving their swimming skills, which was something that could come in handy.

Percy was standing on the shore, looking like he was focusing really hard. Luke realized that Percy was responsible for the rough waters. He was working on his control of water while giving the swimmers more of a challenge. Connor was sitting on a pegasus, flying just above the water where he could oversee everything and make sure that nothing bad happened.

When Percy noticed Luke he dropped his hold on the water. "Luke, Travis, you're back early. How'd it go?"

"Luke got himself an apartment." Travis said proudly. Percy's expression fell.

"What, already?" Percy asked.

"It's been a month." Luke reminded him.

"I know," Percy said somewhat sheepishly. "It's just...are you really leaving?"

"I can't really stay here." Luke said. "The gods don't trust me around other demigods. I think they're scared of how influential I am."

"Influential? You?" Travis gave him a shove. "I wonder where they got that idea from."

"But…" Percy trailed off. He looked like he wanted to argue and fight, but he looked conflicted. He clearly didn't want Luke to leave, but he didn't understand why, and his uncertainty was just frustrating him."

"Hey, I'll come back for a visit." Luke assured him. "You'll have plenty of chances to get your butt kicked in sparring."

"I'm going to beat you one of these days." Percy said. "Especially if you're living around mortals and won't be able to practice."

"We'll see about that." Luke said. He didn't doubt that Percy would become quite a formidable swordsman with enough practice, but Luke, having been the one who had taught Percy everything that he knew, was familiar with his style.

Over the next week Percy spent even more time around Luke than before. The kid would become bitter when anybody mentioned Kronos or the master bolt, and he shouted at Luke a couple of times, but Percy always came back to him. Even after the other campers started to open up to Percy and act more friendly to him, the kid only wanted to spend time with the Hermes cabin kids and Luke.

According to Travis and Connor, Percy didn't quite feel comfortable around the other campers. They had all been so quick to think the worst of him, and it was only after Chiron made it clear that Percy was innocent did they decide to give him a chance. Percy wasn't quite ready to forgive them. He said that if he had to prove himself to them, they had to prove themselves to him. It was only fair.

Luke understood Percy's mindset, but he was also confused by it. After all, he had hurt Percy much more directly than the campers who just hadn't known any better, and yet the kid was well on his way to forgiving him.

Once, after Luke and Percy had finished sparring, the older boy asked him about it. "I know you're still mad at me, and you have every right to be, but you're giving me a chance anyways. Why?"

Percy sat down and began sharpening and cleaning Chaos Bringer. Riptide, being an enchanted weapon, didn't really need to be cared for the way that regular swords did. It was nice to see Percy put care in the sword that needed it.

"You've actually put effort into gaining my trust back." Percy said. "You betrayed Kronos. You confessed to Hades. You returned the bolt to Zeus. I haven't quite forgiven you yet, but I think I'm on my way there. If you can put in the effort, I guess I can too."

"You're not obligated to forgive anybody." Luke said. He hadn't been playing nice specifically to win Percy's favor. That wouldn't be fair for either of them.

"I know," Percy said. "But I don't want to be mad at you. I don't trust you, but I want to be friends again. I don't really have a load of friends, or adults who actually like me, and I'm not in a big hurry to lose another."

"I'll try to not disappoint." Luke said.

The next Thursday came rather quickly for Luke. He left Travis at the coffee shop, making him swear to do his best to focus on his studying, and made his way to the small apartment to meet with Ms. Harris and finally see the apartment.

An hour later, after a quick tour of the building, a look around the sparsely furnished one room apartment, and a conversation about the building rules, Luke was given the keys to his new apartment. It was thrilling and Luke felt very similarly as he had when he'd been given his first quest. Everything that he had worked towards was coming together, and it didn't feel real.

Luke sat on the stiff, scratchy couch and looked around. He'd never had so much place to call his own before. It was a little overwhelming, and Luke knew that it would take a lot of time and work until this place actually started to feel like home. He had to stock the fridge with food and tools, as well as learn how to cook. He needed to find a place to put all his weapons and enchanted items, because there was no way he was going to leave them behind. Then, of course, there was the matter of finding a job.

Luke planned on getting all of that stuff done, but at least for one day he was content with what he had accomplished. He was about to leave to meet up with Travis when he heard a knock on the door. Luke was shocked for a moment. He had only just moved in. Nobody should be knocking.

Luke narrowed his eyes and reached for Backbiter, just in case. He very cautiously opened the door and stood frozen in shock at who he saw. He didn't know what surprised him more, that the god Hades, who never left the Underworld when he could avoid it, was outside his door, or that he had two kids, both of them younger than Percy, with him.

Luke tightened his grip on Backbiter and opened his door wider. "What do you want?"

Hades' dark eyes seemed to be looking straight into Luke's soul. Before he could say anything the boy, who looked to be about nine, if not a little younger, pulled away from Hades' grip.

"Is that a real sword? The boy asked. "It looks like a really long xiphos."

Luke blinked. "You know what a xiphos is?"

The boy nodded eagerly. He took off his backpack, sat on the ground, and started digging through the pockets. "Like in Mythomagic. See?" The boy held up a playing card that showed a xiphos sword. There were all kinds of numbers and information on the card that Luke didn't understand. "It's one of the most common weapons in the game."

"Nico," The girl hissed. She sounded embarrassed. "Now's really not the time for your stupid game."

"Why not?" Luke asked. He crouched next to the boy, Nico. "I'm always up for learning a new game." The girl groaned. Hades cleared his throat, and if Luke didn't know any better he would think that the god was hiding a laugh.

"Nico, the sword is dangerous, and I don't want you touching it." Hades said, and he almost sounded like he cared, which Luke just couldn't comprehend. "Bianca, why don't you and your brother go get yourself settled?"

Bianca pouted slightly, but she grabbed her brother's arm and pulled him to his feet. She dragged him into the only bedroom of the apartment. Luke might be upset with two kids wandering into his personal space, but he was far too used to it after dealing with it for so long. Besides, he had someone else to worry about.

"What are you doing here?" Luke hissed to the god.

"I'm giving you a chance to prove what you father said to me." Hades said. "He said you cared for half-bloods, no matter who they were." Luke glowered. He hated any mention of his dad. Luke had been ready to deny Hades any favor he might ask or demand from him, but he hadn't expected it to involve little kids.

"Yeah, I care about half bloods," Luke said. "What do _you_ care about them though?"

"That isn't your concern." Hades said quietly, almost threateningly. "But I assure you, if either of those children are hurt while under your care I will know, and you will regret it."

Hades seemed to be planning on keeping a close eye on the kids, and Luke didn't understand why. A moment later Nico came running back into the room. He reached for Luke's sword, but Hades pulled him back. Nico pouted and stared up at Hades, who stared right back at him. Seeing Nico standing right next to Hades, Luke couldn't help but notice that their eyes were almost exactly the same. And Hades wouldn't be so protective and almost fond of just anybody.

Luke grimaced. "You've got to be kidding me."

Hades raised an eyebrow at him before turning his attention back to Nico. He ruffled the boy's hair. "Behave yourself for your sister."

"I always do." Nico whined.

"That's not what Bianca says." Hades smirked, and if this wasn't the weirdest exchange that Luke had ever seen, he didn't know what was.

"That's because she just wants me to get into trouble." Nico said knowingly. "I do behave."

"I know." Hades said softly. He stepped away from the boy and gave Luke a stern glare. "Remember what I said, boy." With that last reassuring message Hades walked out the door, closing it behind him.

"Wait, hang on!" Luke ran to the door and threw it open. However, Hades was not standing in the hallway. He had vanished. Luke growled and slammed the door closed, making Nico flinch. Luke took a deep breath and tried to rein in his frustration. None of it was Nico or Bianca's fault. "Hey, kiddo, you want to show me that game of yours?"

Nico brightened immediately and shoved a few of his cards into Luke's hands. He started going on and on about his game Mythomagic, and Luke did his best to pay attention. He was only half listening though. The other half of him was wondering just what he'd gotten himself into.

When he'd saved the son of Poseidon from being dragged into Tartarus, the last thing that Luke had thought would happen was that he'd be made responsible over two kids of Hades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of this particular story, but I'm absolutely planning on adding more and making it a series. The rest of the stories won't be nearly as long as this one, and they won't exactly follow the plot of the original series. I'll talk about some of the most important moments, and then completely switch up everything else.
> 
> And you guys have no idea how much I've been looking forward to introducing little nine year old Nico. I've got some stuff in mind for our boy.


End file.
